Private company

Bauer Media Group

Logo: Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

German multimedia conglomerate

Heinrich Bauer Publishing (German: Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG), trading as Bauer Media Group, is a German multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Hamburg. It operates worldwide and owns more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 radio and TV stations, as well as print shops, postal, distribution and marketing services. It also operates outdoor advertising across Europe, following its takeover of Clear Channel Europe in April 2025.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

1875Founded1
  • Industrymedia company1
  • HeadquartersHamburg1
  • Websitebauermedia.com
  • Legal formKommanditgesellschaft1

Heinrich Bauer Publishing (German: Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG), trading as Bauer Media Group, is a German multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Hamburg. It operates worldwide and owns more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 radio and TV stations, as well as print shops, postal, distribution and marketing services. It also operates outdoor advertising across Europe, following its takeover of Clear Channel Europe in April 2025. Bauer has a workforce of approximately 11,000 in 17 countries.2

Corporate structure

Bauer Media Group sits at the top of its group. 14 entities, 9 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

  • Bauer Media Group Hamburg
    • Box Television Subsidiary · 50% · London
    • Bauer Media Audio Ireland Subsidiary · Digges Lane, Ireland
    • Bauer Media Audio UK Subsidiary
      • Magic Soul Subsidiary
    • Bauer Media Danmark Subsidiary · Skovlunde, Denmark
    • Bauer Media Finland Subsidiary · Helsinki, Finland
      • NRJ Subsidiary · Finland
    • NRJ Group Subsidiary · Paris, France
      • TowerCast Subsidiary · Paris, France
      • CHERIE FM Subsidiary · Paris, France
      • RIRE ET CHANSONS Subsidiary · Paris, France
    • Bauer Ausland 2 Subsidiary · Germany
    • Bauer Media Outdoor Subsidiary · United Kingdom
    • Free Radio Shropshire & Black Country Owned · United Kingdom
    • Interia Owned · Kraków, Poland
    • Jazz FM Owned · United Kingdom
    • Mix Megapol Owned
    • Mojo Owned
    • Motor Cycle News Owned
    • Practical Photography Owned · United Kingdom
    • Q Radio Owned
    • Radio Norge Owned · Norway
    • RMF FM Owned · Kraków, Poland
    • Rockklassiker Owned · Sweden
    • RTL Zwei Owned · Germany
    • Sheffield Live Owned · England, United Kingdom
    • Vinyl 107 Owned · Sweden

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0); major holders from Schedules 13D and 13G. Each entity in the chart links to its source.

What it owns

What Bauer Media Group reports owning in its annual reports to the SEC: buildings, land and equipment, real estate and locations, investments, intangible assets and inventory, at the end of its latest fiscal year and a year before.

Stakes and holdings (Wikidata)

Things Wikidata records the company as owning, with the share when stated.1

The story

The company was founded in 1875 by the German lithographer Johann Andreas Ludolph Bauer (1852–1941). He opened a printing shop in Hamburg at the age of 23. The focus was on the production of business cards. The company was initially taken over by his son Heinrich Friedrich Matthias (1874–1949) and later continued by his grandson Alfred (1898–1984), who joined the company in 1918 and became a partner in 1935. In 1903, the company bought the Rothenburgsorter Zeitung, a for free advertising paper, and incorporated a stationery business. A high-speed printing press and a typesetting machine were among the new working capital of the general partnership J. A. L. Bauer & Sons, also founded in 1903, which now employed around 20 people.

CEO Alfred Bauer became member of the Nazi Party in 1939. By ingratiation of Bauer Verlag to the Nazi regime, the Bauer journals had more success. This was identified in research conducted in 2020 by the Norddeutscher Rundfunk media magazine Zapp and the news magazine Der Spiegel, which demonstrated a proximity of the content of Rundfunkkritik or Funk-Wacht (Radio Watch) to Nazi ideology. In 1942, however, Funk-Wacht was discontinued due to a lack of paper.

In 2024 the company commissioned a comprehensive study from the Historiker-Genossenschaft eG, a cooperative of historical researchers, to examined the corporate history of the Bauer Media Group during the Nazi era, and published the results.

From Wikipedia’s article on Bauer Media Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Products and brands

H Bauer Publishing titles

Titles include women's weekly and TV listings magazines Bella, Take a Break, that's life!, TV Choice and Total TVGuide along with a number of puzzle magazines.

In 1987, Bella was H Bauer's first venture into publishing in the UK. In 1990, H Bauer launched a weekly women's magazine named Take a Break. H Bauer also has a sister title, that's life! that launched in 1995. The H Bauer Publishing brand also includes puzzle magazines that carry the Take a Break name.

TV listings magazines

In 1991, Bauer launched its first TV listings publishing with the launch of TV Quick magazine. (Prior to the de-regulation of TV listings in March 1991, BBC listings had been restricted by law to Radio Times and ITV/Channel 4 listings to TV Times.) TV Quick ceased publication in July 2010. In 1999 H Bauer launched TV Choice at a much lower price point than other titles on the market. TV Choice overtook its main competitor in the February 2008 audited ABCs and has been the number one weekly newsstand magazine in the UK since. In September 2003, H Bauer launched Total TV Guide to cover the increasing number of programmes available on Freeview and satellite or cable services.

Bauer Media brands

Bauer Media is a multi-platform media group, with locations across the UK. Following their purchase of Emap in 2007, The Bauer Media Group acquired a collection of media brands. This includes heat and Grazia as well as a radio portfolio of national radio brands such as KISS FM UK and Magic, and regional radio brands across major UK cities. In 2013, Bauer Media also acquired the Absolute Radio Group from the publishers of The Times of India.

Read the full text

Bauer Media also formerly broadcast TV music channels including The Box TV, in a joint venture with Channel 4. In the UK Bauer Media is the sister company of H Bauer Publishing, who publish titles including Take a Break.

Music publications

Q began as a music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. Originally it was to be called Cue (named after the act of cueing a record to play). However the name was changed so that it would not be mistaken for a snooker magazine. The Q music brand has expanded to Radio and Television, with Q Radio and Q TV being music entertainment that specialises in indie, rock and alternative. Q also holds annual music awards in the UK, known as Q Awards. In spring 2010, Bauer attempted to unilaterally impose a new contract on all photographers and writers, which was set to take away their copyright and off-load liability for libel or copyright infringement from the publisher onto the contributor. 200 photographers and writers from Q and Bauer's other music magazines, Kerrang! and Mojo, were reported as refusing to work under the new terms.

In 2020, Q magazine was scrapped alongside sister publication Planet Rock (joining real-life publication Simply You, Practical Photography and car magazine Modern Classics as titles closed by Bauer) as a buyer could not be found to continue the publication beyond issue Q415, with Kelsey Media deciding to buy Sea Angler, Car Mechanics and Your Horse instead.

Kerrang!

Kerrang! is a brand that specialises in rock music. It was originally a magazine with Kerrang! Radio being launched in 2004. Bauer acquired the Kerrang! brand in 2008, which also included music channel Kerrang! TV (existing as part of The Box Plus Network). As of 2005, all of Kerrang! TV's programme content is music videos, the majority of which is open scheduled for text requests from their playlist. In April 2017, the magazine was sold to Mixmag's publisher Wasted Talent with Kerrang! TV/The Box Plus Network coming under the full ownership of Channel 4 in January 2019.

Other publications

Mother and Baby is parenting website and set of awards aimed at helping parents with advice and product reviews that help them buy well.

The Debrief was an online magazine aimed at ABC1 women in their 20s launched in 2014 in competition with Mail Online and Stylist. It was closed in 2018.

Empire is a monthly film magazine. Launched in the UK in 1989, it is now also published in the US, Australia, Turkey, Russia and Portugal. Its annual Empire Awards are voted for by its readers.

Closer was launched by Bauer Media in 2002. It specialises mainly in celebrity news and gossip, real-life stories and television/entertainment.

The UK edition of Grazia was launched in 2005 as the first glossy woman's weekly magazine in the country.

Launched in 1999, heat is a British celebrity weekly. Its main focus is celebrity interviews, gossip, fashion advice and entertainment.

Yours is a fortnightly lifestyle magazine and website targeting women aged 50 and over, launched in 1974. It covers issues including health, relevant news, fashion and beauty.

Motor Cycle News (MCN) launched as a newspaper in 1955. The brand now has an online presence and is a digital business, with sub-brands including MCN compare, a motorcycle insurance comparison service and MCN classified Bikes for Sale. MCN covers news on all major motorcycle sporting events as well as bike and equipment tests.

Parker's Car Guide is a monthly magazine and, more recently, a website listing prices for new and used cars in the UK. It was founded in 1972 and is the longest-running print price guide in the UK. The website was launched in 1999 and it provides news, advice information as well as cars for sale and additional services such as insurance, to car buyers.

AM (Automotive Management), together with its online counterpart has been a source of news, insight and analysis for the UK automotive industry since 1990.

Pregnancy & Birth was a British magazine aimed at pregnant women. It was part of the Bauer Media Group. It gave out information about pregnancy, products for pregnant women, and it shares other women's stories of childbirth experiences. Between January and June 2011, Pregnancy & Birth had a circulation of 26,775 copies.

The Box Plus Network

Bauer Media Group held a 50% stake in the British television company The Box Plus Network until the other owner, British broadcaster Channel Four Television Corporation, bought the whole stake in January 2019.

From Wikipedia’s article on Bauer Media Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Subsidiaries and ownership

Subsidiaries

Also owns

From Wikidata.1

Acquisitions

  1. Jan 29, 2008Acquired Bauer Media Audio UK1
  2. 2008Acquired Box Television1

Timeline

  1. 1875Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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