Weltbild was one of the founding members of the Tolino Alliance and has sold e-readers online and through their network of shops in Germany since 2013. Tolino is a German consortium whose retail reach spreads across four countries. It includes over 1,000 retail stores in Germany alone and hundreds in other countries. Tolinos aimed to compete against Amazon’s Kindle e-readers and other devices.
The insolvency does not mean the company is going bankrupt but will be laying off a third of its staff. They also have a publishing division where they sell digital content. However, one of their largest distributors, Draft2Digital, sent out an email today that stated, “We received notification from our retail partner Libri GmbH (“Libri”), who shows up on the D2D dashboard as Tolino, that the German retailer Weltbild GmbH & Co. KG has filed for insolvency. Libri has also informed us that Weltbild is defaulting on its May payment and, as such, has had its ebook distribution rights withdrawn.”
Insolvency administrator Christian Plail clarified on Wednesday that the company only has a future through significant change. He demands the commitment of everyone involved: shareholders, employees, and business partners must make concessions. “It won’t work without concessions from all sides,” said Plail. He stressed that Weltbild needs a more precise profile and a changed customer market presence. Internal changes are also required: structures and processes need to be revised.
The company made it clear in a media statement that it wants to focus on its online business exclusively. This means they will likely shutter their 14 bookstores and concentrate more on buecher.de, the health brand Orbisana and the garden supplies retailer Gärtner Pötschke.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
