Ringier Milestones
Extract of the Ringier history 1833-2006
 Ringier history begins with a small book-printing business set up by Johann Rudolph Ringier, the son of a parish priest, in 1833 in the Swiss village of Zofingen. It was here that the very first Ringier newspaper man edited and printed the Zofingen Weekly Gazette.
Johann Ringier passed on his enterprising spirit to his successor Franz Emil and later Paul August Ringier. The 22-year-old Paul August took over the Schweizerische Allgemeine Volks-Zeitung in 1902, renamed Glückspost in 1977. The Schweizer Illustrierte magazine was added in 1911 and remains a sound success even today. In addition, he also developed Europe's first rotogravure web-feed press, able to print pictures and text in a single printing process.
In the early 1920's Ringier took its first steps into French-speaking Switzerland with the launch of l'Illustré. Later, Ringier's entertainment pages also appeared in German speaking areas.
In 1959 Paul August introduced Blick, the first Swiss boulevard newspaper. The contrast to Swiss traditional papers was at that time so big, that some pronounced it as "un-Swiss!" Torch-light processions were organized against Blick, but nothing could prevent its success in Switzerland or its offshoots abroad. Blick continues to be the ultimate success story.
Paul August's son, Hans Ringier, has led the company since 1960. He launched Sonntagsblick in 1969 and, in 1974 he founded the first school for journalists in Switzerland - an important pioneering step for the development of journalism. He also established a second pillar of the business by constructing Switzerland's largest newspaper printing plant in Adligenswil, near Lucerne. Hans Ringier is also the first Ringier associate who dared take the business beyond the Swiss borders.
His son, Michael Ringier (57, and current President of the Company) led the way into the TV business in the early 1980's. With its 14 TV programmes, Ringier TV is nowadays one of the leading producers for the Swiss TV channels SF and Sat.1 Switzerland.
Also under Michael Ringier, during the 1980's the company gained footholds in Asia where it entered into partnership in 1987 with the Times Publishing Company, establishing Times-Ringier Ltd., a printing plant in Hong Kong. In the year 2000, Ringier increased its share in Hong Kong's printing facility from 50 to a full 100 percent. Furthermore, Ringier initiated publishing activities in Vietnam in 1993 and in 1995 in China.
In 1982 Ringier took over the Krüger Company in the United States of America with eight printing facilities and 6.200 employees. Ringier sold the US-printing plants in 1996.
In 1990, after the fall of communism, Ringier entered the East European countries, where it brought adaptations of its popular Swiss titles. The Czech market came first, followed by Romania with Capital in 1992, and one year later Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia.
In 1993 Ringier opened up its first foreign printing plant in Ostrava (Czech Republic). More and more titles were added to the initial economic publication in all these countries and printing facilities were added too. In 1996 the Swiss enterprise called a halt to its activities in Bulgaria and Poland but continued to add other countries. "Foreign activities are increasingly important for Ringier, therefore it is our task to be on the look out for new business activities. When we stop looking for new countries then I should retire", says Martin Werfeli (49), Ringier's Chief Executive Officer.
The Ringier family of enterprises now has operations in 11 countries, and a portfolio of about 100 titles for which over 6'000 employees work daily.
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