Hubert Burda (born 9 February 1940) is a German billionaire publisher. He is the owner, publisher and general partner of Hubert Burda Media, a global media company of more than 600 media products, including websites, print magazines and other brands. It operates in 20 countries, predominantly in Germany and the UK. Its brands include Focus, Bunte and Radio Times.
Burda is chairman of the conference Digital Life Design (DLD), which takes place annually in January in Munich.
As of July 2025, Forbes estimates his net worth at $4 billion.[1]
Early life
Burda is the youngest son of the publishing couple Franz and Aenne Burda, alongside his older brothers Franz and Frieder.[2]
As a sixth-form pupil he took painting lessons daily and hoped to become a painter, against his father's wishes. His father permitted him to study art history only on condition that he wait until after the age of 25 to begin.
Burda attended LMU Munich, where he studied art history with Hans Sedlmayr, as well as archaeology and sociology. He earned his doctorate in art history before the age of 26; his dissertation was titled Die Ruine in Hubert Robert's Pictures.[3]
After several traineeships in US advertising agencies and publishers, Burda worked until 1974 as publishing director of the Burda magazine Bild und Funk. As an independent project, in 1969 he founded the magazine m - The Magazine For Men.
Burda Holding
Burda assumed the role of sole shareholder and CEO of Burda Holding in 1987. In 1988, he recruited the editorial director of Bild-Zeitung, Günter Prinz, from Springer-Verlag. In addition to the program magazine Super TV, Burda also established SUPERillu, the magazine with the largest circulation in what was then East Germany, launching six weeks before German reunification.
In 1993, Burda collaborated with Helmut Markwort to develop the news magazine Focus, a rival to Der Spiegel.
In 1999, Burda renamed the holding company to Hubert Burda Media. Under his father the firm's revenues were split broadly equally between printing and publishing, but under Hubert the firm significantly expanded its digital and international operations, including joint ventures with Hachette, Microsoft and Rizzoli and international expansion into countries such as Singapore, Thailand, India, Russia.
Current operations
In 2018, Hubert Burda Media employed 12,369 staff and achieved revenues of €2.66 billion in its four divisions (Digital Brands National, Media Brands National, Media Brands International and Print).
Burda's German publishing arm generated over €650million, reaching approximately three-quarters of the German population. The firm's international division recorded a turnover of €413 million.
Career and memberships
As of July 2025, Forbes estimated Burda's net worth at US$4 billion.[1] He is the third richest publisher in Germany, after Friede Springer and Elisabeth Mohn.
Burda stepped down as CEO in 2010. He has given Burda Media shares to his two children; Elisabeth and Jacob each now hold 37.4% of the company, leaving him with 25.1%.[4]
Founder of the Hubert Burda Center for Innovative Communication at Ben-Gurion University of Negev, Be'er Sheva, Israel[5]
Initiator of the project "Godfather for Tolerance" in support of the Jewish Center Munich, on Jakobsplatz
Chairman of the Board of Trustees Germany Foundation Integration
Philanthropy
In 1975, Burda initiated the Petrarca-Preis. It was awarded to contemporary poets and translators from 1975 to 1999 and from 2010 to 2014. It was succeeded from 1999 to 2009 by the Hermann Lenz Prize, before reverting to the Petrarca Prize from 2010 to 2014.
デジタル革命に関する考察 1990-2015: メディアはいかに変化するか、ペトラルカ出版、ミュンヘン、2014年、ISBN978-3-871150463.world /new-book-burdas-notes-to-digital-revolution/11095832.html Burda's notes to the digital revolution、wiwo.de、ニュースリリース 2014年12月9日。
Gisela Freisinger: Hubert Burda. The Medienfürst. Campus, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN3-593-37417-X.
"Very female oriented". Burda publishing house: the Munich media house is inspired by the aggressiveness. In: Manager Magazin. 35, 2, 2005, p.20
" ... but he was not like that." In: Offenburger Tageblatt, 23 January 2007 (Interview with Burda by Jürgen Rohn).
Stefan Niggemeier: -1408790.html "Digital Life Design": Not only is everything possible - it's getting better and better . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. 24 January 2007.
Films
Hubert Burda. Between rebellion and duty. Documentary, Germany, 2006, 45 min., Written and directed by Kathrin Pitterling, Produced by Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Series: The Heirs, Part 3, First broadcast: 22 January 2007.[7]
Gero von Boehm meets… Hubert Burda. Interview. Germany, 2002, 45 min., Director: Gero von Boehm, Producer: Interscience, First broadcast 24 April 2002 in 3sat.[8]
Awards
1997: Federal Cross of Merit, First Class
1999: Interfaith Gold Medal of the International Panel of Christians and Jews
2000: Honorary Professorship of the Prime Minister of the State of Baden-Württemberg
2000: Honorary citizenship of the city of Offenburg
2000: Honorary Membership of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts
2000: Medal " Munich shines - the friends of Munich" in gold
2000: Bavarian Print Media Award
2002: Great Federal Cross of Merit
2002: Honorary professor, by the Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg.
2004: Future Prize of the Christian-Democratic Workforce
2005: Grand Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
2006: Leo Baeck Prize
2007: Jakob Fugger Medal of the Association of Magazine Publishers in Bavaria
2008: Medal of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg