Bauer Family

The Bauer Media Group has been owned and run by the German Bauer family since it was established nearly 150 years ago. In 2010 Heinz Bauer, the great-grandson of Johann Bauer, divided his control of the company among his four children, with daughter Yvonne Bauer receiving 85%, while daughters Mirja, Saskia and Nicola each received 5%.

The family is famously secretive, and very little is known about their personal lives, or the roles they play within the company, with the exception of a small handful of details that have been revealed over the years.

Born in 1975, Yvonne Bauer (85%) is the fifth generation of the Bauer family to lead the Bauer Media Group. After apprenticing at the publishers Hoffmann and Campe, she joined Bauer in 2005. She assumed leadership of the Bauer Media Group in 2010, becoming the company's first female CEO. She is married to German television journalist and producer Enno Koch.

Mirja Bauer (5%) was editor of the magazine Life & Style from 2008 to 2011. She is married to Sven-Olof Reimers, the current CEO of Bauer Venture Partners GmbH.

Nicola Bauer (5%) is the former editor of the German magazine Life and Style.

Saskia Bauer’s (5%) exact role in the company is unclear, although in 2008, the Bauer Media Press Office stated that she assisted her father across the entire Bauer portfolio.

The Bauer Media family's origins can be traced back to the German publishing house, Heinrich Bauer Verlag, which was founded in Hamburg in 1875 by Johann Andreas Ludolph Bauer in Hamburg. Heinrich Bauer Verlag was initially focused on printing business directories, although gradually began producing more commercial content, including penny novels, TV guides and fashion magazines, throughout the 20th century.

In 2007 the Bauer Verlagsgruppe became the Bauer Media Group, a change that reflected the company’s desire to expand its operation beyond publishing and into media more broadly, including radio, television and online outlets. At the same time, the company began looking to expand into international markets outside of Germany.

In the United Kingdom, Bauer Media acquired Emap's consumer media division in 2008, which included magazines like FHM, Heat, and Grazia, as well as radio brands like Kiss and Magic. In 2012 Bauer Media acquired ACP Magazines (formerly Australian Consolidated Press), a major magazine publisher in Australia, known for titles such as Woman's Day, Cleo, and Australian Women's Weekly. Bauer Media has also acquired several lifestyle magazines in the US.

In 2021, Bauer acquired Ireland's largest commercial radio group Communicorp (now Bauer Media Audio Ireland), allowing them to add Today FM, Newstalk, 98FM, Spin 1038, Spin Southwest, and Corks Red FM to their portfolio.

Today, Bauer Media Group is active in 14 countries on four continents, with over 600 magazines worldwide, more than 400 digital media properties, and over 150 radio and TV stations.