After the take-over of the Berliner Verlag, various media outlets reported that the new owners expect huge increases in profit: according to rumors, CEO Peter Skulimma plans to raise the company's rate of return from 12% to 21% until 2008. Montgomery repeatedly denied claims, that he only wants a quick and profitable exit, and insisted that he is interested in building up a German or European media group. However, end of December executive staff quit the company: Karl Hermann, who was editor-in-chief of city magazine Tip, which also belongs to the Berliner Verlag and Oliver Rohloff, who was CEO together with Skulimma, left the Berliner Verlag on December 31st 2005.

At the same time (end of December), staff called at a works meeting for a disclosure of the company's goals. Many feared for their jobs. The works council (Betriebsrat) feared, and still fears, for triple-digit job cuts (the Berliner Verlag has currently about 750 employees). The management only announced that job cuts could not be ruled out. 

According to Die Welt, the publisher also thought about introducing a Sunday version of the Berliner Zeitung without extending the newsroom staff. However, no action has been taken yet. 

In the middle of February, Anne McElvoy, vice editor-in-chief of the Evening Standard and former Berlin correspondent for the Times, visited the Berliner Zeitung and presented her views of how to make a succesful capital city newspaper. Whether she will come back one day as new editor-in-chief remains, however, unclear.

On Monday, 27.02.06, staff of the Berliner Zeitung, agreed on a so-called Redaktionsstatut (a statute regarding various guidelines, e.g. staff's right to veto a new editor-in-chief). According to the statute, the hiring or firing of an editor-in-chief is not possible if two thirds of the newsroom's staff disagree. The Redaktionsstatut is, however, only valid if the company's owners also accept it.

On Wednesday (01.03.06), staff of the Berliner Verlag and the Hamburger Morgenpost went to the streets in Berlin and Hamburg respectively to express their concern about the future of the company. They said that they want clarity about the company's goals eventually and called on the owners to accept the Redaktionsstatut, which they see as a compromise offer. They also demanded a job guaranty for all employees and that the quality of the newspapers will persist.

Until now, there have been no layoffs at the Berliner Verlag. Also the editor-in-chief of the Berliner Zeitung, Uwe Vorkötter, who protested loudly against the take-over, is still in charge. However, the atmosphere is taut and the Frankfurter Rundschau reported, that the Hamburger Morgenpost plans to lay 12 people off (the paper currently employs 126). 

It will be interesting to further watch the developments at the BV Deutsche Zeitungsholding. The Handelsblatt writes today, that Veronis Suhler Stevenson still has big plans in Germany. The BV Deutsche Zeitungsholding shall become a new publishing group and is already looking for further German newspapers to buy. The group also plans to get into other parts of the media branch, such as radio stations, science publishers or outdoor advertising.

Sources (all in German): Netzeitung (here, here, here and here), Die Welt, Der Tagesspiegel, taz, Handelsblatt, Frankfurter Rundschau