ddp media GmbH expands management with Ulli Michel and Prof. Moritz Hunzinger

Frankfurt am Main/Hamburg, September 14, 2021 - Following the complete takeover of the ddp media GmbH (Hamburg) international photo agency group on August 1, 2021 by action press AG (Frankfurt), the owners are appointing their two board members Ulli Michel and Prof. Moritz Hunzinger to the management of the new subsidiary. Together with the current managing partner Ulf Schmidt-Funke, they will form the management of ddp. Ulli Michel will take over as the CEO of ddp: "ddp significantly expands our production range, action press establishes itself stable in the world market". Up to 50,000 photos are processed daily for editorial and stock purposes. ddp, whose name derives from ddp Deutscher Depeschendienst, founded in Hamburg in 1971, includes Stella Pictures AB (Stockholm), laif Agentur für Photos & Reportagen GmbH (Cologne) and Picture Press, Intertopics and FoodCentrale photo agency brands.

With the acquisition of ddp, action press AG, founded in 1970, grew to become one of the world's largest photo databases. The newly formed group has a strong focus on growth: in 1999, it was sold to Hunzinger Information AG (now infas Holding AG), and from 1999 to 2004, Moritz Hunzinger has already been the chairman of the management board. At the time, action press had 6.8 million photos, 24 partner agencies, 600 photographers and was represented in 20 countries. In 2016, Hunzinger's successor Menno Smid, CEO of infas Holding AG (Bonn), sold the agency to the British SilverHub Media Limited. In 2018, Ulli Michel acquired the company. 2020 saw the purchase by the new parent company action press AG by Moritz Hunzinger, with Ulli Michel taking a half share. In 2021, the share capital of action press AG rose to € 22.05 million. The entry of Deutsche Balaton AG (Heidelberg) was followed by the initial listing on the Düsseldorf Stock Exchange. On September 9, 2021, action press AG, now represented in 120 countries by 5,000 photographers and 130 partner agencies, reported a record photo inventory of 148.8 million photos. In 2022, the shares are to be listed on the Xetra stock exchange.

Queries:

- Ulli Michel: ulli.michel@actionpress.de, +49 172 253 73 03

- Prof. Moritz Hunzinger: moritz.hunzinger@actionpress.de, +49 171 60 333 20

https://www.actionpress-ir.de/

action press international gmbh
Oehleckerring 9a-13
22419 Hamburg

action press AG
Wielandstr. 3
60318 Frankfurt am Main