Bastei Lübbe: Reorganisation of the Executive Board completed

• Simon Decot to become Executive Board member responsible for programme as of April 1, 2020
• Sandra Dittert to become Executive Board member responsible for sales and marketing on August 1, 2020
• Klaus Kluge will not extend his contract due to personal reasons
• Joachim Herbst as CFO will assume the role of spokesman of the board
• Carel Halff remains CEO until the end of 2020 and will act as advisor to the company thereafter

Cologne, 24 January 2020 - Bastei Lübbe AG, listed in the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, has completed the plans for the reorganisation of its executive body. The Supervisory Board of Bastei Lübbe AG has appointed Simon Decot (49) to the Executive Board member responsible for programme with effect from April 1, 2020 and Sandra Dittert (50) to the Executive Board member responsible for marketing and sales with effect from August 1, 2020.

The two new members of the Executive Board will thus take over the responsibilities of Klaus Kluge (61), who was previously responsible for both programme and marketing/sales divisions in a dual function. For personal reasons, Mr Kluge has decided not to extend his contract, which runs until September 2020.

Robert Stein, Chairman of the Supervisory Board: "We are pleased that we have successfully concluded the succession planning for the Executive Board of Bastei Lübbe AG. Two experienced managers and, for the first time, an experienced female manager will take the helm of the Executive Board. With Mr. Decot as internal appointment, we will benefit from his existing network within the Bastei Lübbe Group".

Simon Decot has been with Lübbe since September 2015 and, as Head of Programme Strategy, was most recently responsible for the further and new development of the fiction, non-fiction and Eichborn divisions together with the publishing and programme managers. Prior to this, he successfully managed the LYX publishing house and the digital-only labels within the company. Before joining Bastei Lübbe, Mr. Decot gained comprehensive expertise and market overview through positions at Suhrkamp, Bertelsmann, Weltbild and Ravensburger. One of his great strengths and secrets of success is the strong orientation towards customer needs and communities.

Sandra Dittert, managing director of the Haufe Group since 2017, is returning to the field of trade book publishers. She has already worked successfully for the book publishing houses of the Georg von Holtzbrinck publishing group for 18 years, most recently as Head of Sales, Marketing and Digital. She has extensive experience with leading general-interest publishers, where she has been a driving force behind digitisation. At the Haufe Group, she has been very successful in the digitalization of products, business models and value-added processes.

"By separating the programme and sales/marketing responsibilities on the Executive Board, we are strengthening the core business of the book publishing houses. We would like to thank Mr Kluge for his many years of great commitment and the successes he has achieved and wish him personally and professionally all the best for the future. With Mr Halff as a consultant beyond his time on the Executive Board, we are confident that we will be able to smoothly implement this complete transition in the Executive Board of Bastei Lübbe AG. The future CFO, Joachim Herbst, will take over the role of spokesman in the new Executive Board", says Robert Stein about the future structure of the Executive Board.
 

About Bastei Lübbe AG:

Bastei Lübbe AG is a German publishing house with headquarters in Cologne specialised in the publication of books, audio books and e-books with fiction and popular science content. The company's core business also includes the periodically published puzzle magazines and novel magazines. With its total of twelve publishing houses and imprints, the Bastei Lübbe group of companies currently offers around 3,600 titles in the areas of fiction, non-fiction as well as books for children and young adults. In the growing segment of hardcover fiction books, the company has been one of the market leaders in Germany for many years. At the same time, Bastei Lübbe is an engine for innovation in the area of digital media and distribution channels, among other things by the production of thousands of audio and eBooks. This includes the stake in the renowned game publisher "Daedalic Entertainment".
With annual sales of approx. EUR 95 million (financial year 2018/2019), Bastei Lübbe AG is one of the largest medium-sized publishing companies in Germany. The shares of the company have been listed in the Prime Standard segment on the Frankfurt stock exchange (GSIN A1X3YY, ISIN DE000A1X3YY0) since 2013. Further information is available at


Contact Bastei Lübbe AG:
Barbara Fischer
Head of Press and Public Relations
Tel.: +49 221 / 82 00 28 50
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