Commercial Exchange of Goods or Services - Online retailer Weltbild undergoes insolvency-driven restructuring.
Online and catalog retailer Weltbild GmbH & Co. KG has recently filed for bankruptcy at the Augsburg District Court. This news was released on Monday through the official insolvency notice websiteinsolvenzbekanntmachungen.de. The parent organization shared this information and named Christian Plail from the law firm Schneider Geiwitz & Partner in Ulm as the interim insolvency administrator. It was previously reported by "Wirtschaftswoche" about the insolvency application.
WB D2C Group, the parent organization, affirmed that other brands and investments would not be impacted by the insolvency proceedings. The affiliates in their portfolio include garden supply dealer Gärtner Pötschke, online bookstore Buecher.de, antiquarian Jokers, and photography and art specialty publisher teNeues. The Weltbild firm, in question, accounts for roughly 20% of the group's revenue. The entire group boasted more than 2000 employees and a turnover of approximately 600 million euros last year.
The insolvency aim is to undergo a comprehensive restructuring of the Weltbild business. The main factors responsible for these financial issues were the global crises, particularly those in Ukraine and Israel, resulting in inconsistencies in the supply chain. This situation was further aggravated by aggressive new Asian competitors. The exact number of employees affected by the insolvency was not revealed.
The current Weltbild business stems from the same-named former company of the Catholic Church. Decade ago, the Augsburg publishing group Weltbild went bankrupt, and subsequently, the Düsseldorf family business Droege assumed control of the Augsburg company. Back then, insolvency administrator was Arndt Geiwitz, who is now hired once more by his law firm.
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The insolvency proceedings for Weltbild GmbH & Co. KG have caused ripples in the German business world, as reported by Business Week and other prominent publications. Geiwitz, a renowned insolvency expert from Ulm, has been appointed as the interim administrator by Schneider Geiwitz & Partner, a law firm with a strong presence in Bavaria. The Augsburg Local Court, known for its jurisdiction in finance and trade cases, is overseeing the restructuring process.
The insolvency of Weltbild, which contributes around 20% to the group's revenue, has not affected other brands under the WB D2C Group umbrella, such as Buecher.de and Gärtner Pötschke. However, the exact number of employees that will be impacted by the insolvency proceedings remains undisclosed. Despite the global crises in Ukraine and Israel and aggressive competition from Asian markets, the German trade sector remains resilient, with companies like teNeues continuing to thrive.
