Weltbild Files for Insolvency Again – WB D2C Group Remains Stable

The renowned Weltbild GmbH & Co. KG, known as an online and catalog retailer, has filed for bankruptcy. This announcement recently appeared on the official website Insolvenzbekanntmachungen.de and caused a significant stir in the industry. The parent company appointed Christian Plail from the law firm Schneider Geiwitz & Partner in Ulm as the preliminary insolvency administrator. The initial report on this matter came from "Wirtschaftswoche." In the context of the bankruptcy filing, the e-commerce investment company WB D2C Group emphasized that other brands and business areas would remain unaffected by the bankruptcy. In addition to Weltbild, this group includes the garden supply retailer Gärtner Pötschke, the online bookstore Buecher.de, the antiquarian bookshop Jokers, and the illustrated book publisher teNeues. Weltbild contributes about 20 percent to the group's total revenue, which recently amounted to a significant €600 million annually and employed over 2,000 employees. The current situation is to be used to fundamentally restructure the Weltbild business. The financial difficulties are attributed to global crises, particularly in the regions of Ukraine and Israel, which led to significant supply chain problems. Competitive pressure from new Asian providers further exacerbated the situation. However, the exact number of affected Weltbild employees was not disclosed. Weltbild, once a company of the Catholic Church, has a storied history. Exactly ten years ago, the then Weltbild publishing group in Augsburg also had to file for bankruptcy, after which the Düsseldorf family company Droege took over the business. At that time, too, the law firm Schneider Geiwitz & Partner, represented by Arndt Geiwitz, was involved, and he has now been brought in again to tackle the current challenges.