Overview

• Wachtel will take operational responsibility for all publishing businesses across 16 countries and will join the Burda executive board.
• He succeeds longtime executive Philipp Welte, who will relinquish operational duties at the start of 2026 and move to the supervisory board.
• The appointment completes Burda’s two-division setup launched in June 2025, with Marc Al-Hames running Burda Equity and Holger Eckstein serving as CFO for both areas.
• Burda’s publishing arm employs roughly 5,500 people, publishes about 470 titles worldwide, and generated €1.37 billion of the group’s €2.7 billion revenue in 2024.
• Wachtel currently leads Bauer Media’s publishing unit and previously held senior roles at Axel Springer and RTL; Bauer’s Yvonne Bauer said she regrets his departure and has not yet named a successor.