1959: Startup Financing of the Kronenzeitung (Newspaper)

The newspaper, first published in 1900 as the “Österreichische Kronen-Zeitung” (Austrian Krone Newspaper), was considered a “janitor’s paper” during the Habsburg monarchy; a subscription cost one Krone per month. Publication ceased after the “Anschluss” in March 1938. What remained were the title rights, which Hans Dichand had acquired in 1959 for 170,125 schillings. Behind that amount were Kurt Falk and Ferdinand Karpik, two people from the sphere of Franz Olah, then president of the ÖGB (Austrian Federation of Trade Unions). In order to successfully position a newspaper on the market, one doesn’t just need a good editorial team, but also share capital and a collateralisation of the inevitable losses in the first years. Both amounts, one million share capital and several million collateral came to the newspaper via opaque methods (such as with the union’s pledged saving’s account) through Franz Olah. Since it was not possible to make the funding sources fully transparent in the lawsuit against Franz Olah without Olah incriminating himself, the newspaper finally went to Hans Dichand. In subsequent years, this developed into the tabloid with the highest circulation, relative to a country’s total population.