Bastei Lübbe: Bastei Lübbe AG brings Carel Halff on board as new CEO. Change and expansion of the Management Board are completed

Press Release

Bastei Lübbe: Bastei Lübbe AG brings Carel Halff on board as new CEO. Change and expansion of the Management Board are completed

Cologne, 19 October 2017. Bastei Lübbe AG (ISIN DE000A1X3YY0), listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, will strengthen its Management Board as of 1 November 2017: Carel Halff will assume the position of CEO and will thus be responsible for the overall management of the Group.

With Carel Halff, the media group brings a long-time market expert on board. Halff can look back on a career in the German book market for many decades, both in the publishing industry and in the book trade. Under his leadership, the Weltbild Group has become one of the most successful companies in the publishing industry. Halff also realized early on the chances of the digitization of the book industry and has, among other things, pushed forward the launch of the e-book platform Tolino. Following his tenure at Weltbild, Halff, as a consultant, member of supervisory boards and manager, supported various companies in their further strategic development.

"We are very pleased to have gained an experienced publishing and book trade expert with Carel Halff, whose knowledge we trust and whose experience we will benefit from. We will strengthen the publishing house at its core and take up the digital and other challenges under his leadership to successfully develop the company in the interests of shareholders and employees," explains Robert Stein, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bastei Lübbe AG. Carel Halff will in the future be responsible for the business areas of strategy and corporate development.

"My enthusiasm for the book industry is unbroken, and I am very excited to bring in my experiences and ideas into one of the most successful publishers in Germany and to contribute to the further development of the publishing group," said Carel Halff.

At the same time as the appointment of the new CEO Carel Halff, the contract of Klaus Kluge as a program and marketing board was extended by three years. This means that the change and expansion of the Management Board of Bastei Lübbe AG have now been completed.

About Bastei Lübbe AG:

Bastei Lübbe AG is an internationally active media group with headquarters in Cologne. Its business activities primarily focus on the development and licencing of contents which are sold worldwide in physical and digital formats. The core business of the company in the book segment covers classic publishing and periodically published puzzle magazines and novels. With its total of twelve publishing houses and imprints, the company group currently offers around 3,600 titles in the areas of fiction, non-fiction as well as books for children and young adults. In the growing segment of hardcover fiction books, the company has been the market leader in Germany for many years. At the same time, Bastei Lübbe is an engine for innovation in the area of digital media. Apart from the production of thousands of audio and ebooks, the "digital" business unit also maintains participations in the self-publishing platform "BookRix" and the renowned game publisher "Daedalic Entertainment". The digital value-added chain of Bastei Lübbe AG is rounded off through its participation in the online shop "beam-ebooks.de" as well as the new and unique international entertainment platform "oolipo".

With annual sales of approx. 146.3 million euros (financial year 2016/2017), Bastei Lübbe AG is the largest medium-sized family-run publishing business in Germany. The shares of the company have been listed in the Prime Standard segment on the Frankfurt stock exchange (GSIN A1X3YY, ISIN DE000A1X3YY0) since 2013. Further information is available at www.luebbe.de.

Contact Bastei Lübbe AG:
Barbara Fischer
Head of Press and Public Relations
Tel.: 0221 / 82 00 28 50
E-Mail: barbara.fischer@luebbe.de