- Weltbild
The Verlagsgruppe Weltbild ( _en. Weltbild Publishing Group) is a major German
publisher and media retailer based inAugsburg . It is owned by thediocese s of theRoman Catholic Church of Germany. The name "Weltbild" roughly translates to "world image" or "world view ".As of 2006, "Weltbild" claims to be Germany's largest media and mail-order company, with a market share of ten percent. It also says it is No. 2 among online book retailers (presumably after
Amazon.de ). "Weltbild" employs some 4,500 employees and has arevenue of 1,4 billion EUR. According to the enterprise, some 5,5 million customers in the German-speaking countries buy "Weltbild" books by mail order, in one of the 300 "Weltbild" shops or over the Internet. Its mail-order catalogue has a print run of four million."Weltbild" mostly publishes mass market and discount books. Together with the
Bild newspaper, it has launched a bestseller line of cheap sports- and nature-themed books, novels, comics and bibles.Due to its aggressive pricing policy and substantial market impact, "Weltbild" has been the subject of criticism among Germany's small publishers and booksellers. It is also the full or partial owner of several other book retailers and publishers in Europe.
Despite being owned by the Catholic dioceses, "Weltbild" is no different from most mass-market publishers and retailers in distributing and publishing numerous books dealing with
esotericism ,sex and the like. It also sold the 2003 bestseller "The Da Vinci Code ", which was condemned by Church representatives. In that regard, "Weltbild" states that "to bring a Christian worldview in line with the requirements and demands of the market – and doing so convincingly –– is our daily challenge".External links
* [http://www.weltbild.com/en/index.html English-language Weltbild website]
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