Our antitrust team obtains the green light for a marketing joint venture between Burda and FUNKE. The publishers describe the cooperation as forward-looking because it allows them to defend their market position against dominant U.S. tech giants while safeguarding their editorial independence. Burda and FUNKE will expand the BCN Brand Community Network into an integrated marketer. The German Federal Cartel Office examined possible competitive effects of the cooperation in detail during five months of merger control proceedings.

In terms of antitrust law, the proceedings were conducted for Burda and FUNKE by Dr. Donata Beck, Dr. Ulrich Klumpp and Dr. Simon Schmauder, LL.M. (University of San Diego). Dr. Maximilian Preisser (Burda), Dr. Eva Heneweer and Dr. Carsten Bronny (both FUNKE) provided legal support for the proceedings in-house.

Further information can be found here.