Merger Notification - Announcement according to § 10 Cartel Act
Olympia Verlag GmbH; Ringier Sports Media Group AG
BWB/Z-7055
On 28.08.2025 the Austrian Federal Competition Authority was notified of the following merger:
Planned purchase process
Olympia-Verlag GmbH, through its wholly owned subsidiary kicker ventures GmbH, both based in Germany, and Ringier Sports Media Group AG, Switzerland, intend to jointly control a Swiss public limited company called RSMG kicker Schweiz AG, in which they will hold 49% and 51% of the shares, respectively, and which will operate the platforms ‘sport.ch’, ‘welovesnow.ch’ and ‘kicker.ch’ as well as the kicker app for Swiss customers.
The proposed transaction relates to sports media.
J - PUBLISHING, BROADCASTING, AND CONTENT PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION ACTIVITIES J 60 - Programming, broadcasting, news agency and other content distribution activities, J 60.3 - News agency and other content distribution activities, J 60.31 - News agency activities, J 60.39 - Other content distribution activities
Deadline for bringing in an application pursuant to § 11(1) Cartel Act will end on 25.09.2025.
Entrepreneurs whose legal or economic interests are affected by the merger can bring in a written statement at the Federal Competition Authority or the Federal Cartel Prosecutor within 14 days from publication date.
Note: The intervening party has no right to a certain treatment of the statement and will not gain a party position.
Non-prohibition of the merger
The Federal Competition Authority and the Federal Cartel Prosecutor have not applied for examination of the merger by the Cartel Court. The standstill obligation (§ 17 (1) Cartel Act) ends with effect from 26.09.2025 .