According to Verdi estimates, more than two hundred journalists stood in front of the Gruner + Jahr building in Hamburg on Wednesday, whistled and held up posters.

But there were no answers, neither from Bertelsmann boss Thomas Rabe nor from the Mohn family, the Bertelsmann owners.

Last week, the editorial advisory board wrote a fire letter to the 81-year-old entrepreneur Liz Mohn and her son and supervisory board chairman Christoph Mohn.

They read from it: "Gruner + Jahr is a complete package that works both in editorial cooperation and in the advertising market." Advertising banners for RTL streaming services hung on the publishing house building, with posters next to it: "Stop the sale!"

With its range of magazines founded in 1965, G + J is one of the big names in the German newspaper landscape, including "Stern", "Brigitte", "Geo", "PM", "Eltern" and "Schöner Wohnen".

Bertelsmann increased its stake in Gruner + Jahr from almost 75 to 100 percent in 2015. At that time, the Hamburg media company had sales of 2.1 billion euros and 8,500 employees.

At the beginning of 2022, the merger with the private television station RTL was announced, but Thomas Rabe saw no future in the digital world for Gruner + Jahr alone.

However, there was still talk of a “journalistic powerhouse”.

A "portfolio analysis" is now underway to clarify how the editorial offices and the private broadcaster can grow together.

The workforce is understandably excited about this.

"Macroeconomic Challenges"

For years, the publishing house's employees have had to deal with rapid changes in strategy.

In the meantime, speculation is increasing that the broadcasting group RTL wants to sell almost all magazines.

According to the "Süddeutsche Zeitung", all titles except "Stern" are for sale.

On request, a spokesman for RTL stated that there were no discussions or negotiations with interested parties: "That is very important to us." The impression was probably created because publishers had brought themselves together as possible buyers of individual titles.

In an internal interview in September, Bertelsmann boss Thomas Rabe described the "major economic challenges" as "major" and referred to the paper prices that have risen since the merger as a result of the war in Ukraine and the shrinking advertising market.

"The daily look at the news and the latest forecasts shows us that the coming months will be even more difficult."

Lack of feeling for editors

One of the strategically important projects he mentioned was the further expansion of RTL+.

The "Future program ONE" should help to position RTL as number one in the German media market in the long term.

No mention of the magazines.

According to Rabe, several hundred new jobs have been created in the past few months, “especially in these future-oriented areas”.

For the investments, resources would have to be redistributed.

“The magazine business, for example, is currently under particular pressure.

That's why we will review the title portfolio and only merge titles with RTL that are really synergistic."

An open letter in a bitter tone from the former “Geo” editor-in-chief Peter-Matthias Gaede circulated among the editors over the course of the week.

Gaede accuses Rabe of initially promising everything possible.

But "not even a blink of an eye" later there was no more talk of it: "No synergies between 'Bauer sucht Frau' and 'art', between 'Bachelor in Paradise' and '11 Freunde'".

Gaede also accuses Rabe of having a lack of feeling for editorial staff.

Since journalism has been called “content”, Bertelsmann has apparently forgotten what is still understood at CEO level as responsibility for a “fourth estate” in the state.

"The portfolio review is ongoing," said an RTL spokesman on request.

Whether there will be a complete sale of Gruner + Jahr or even a break-up cannot be said before the review has been completed: "The result of this is open." A result of the process is expected in the course of the first quarter.