History

1855

Foundation of Haasenstein & Vogler in Denmark and Germany

 

1868

Haasenstein & Vogler opens its first swiss subsidiary in Basel

 

1890

Foundation of the company in Geneva by Charles Georg, who takes over the swiss and italian operations of a the parent german company: Haasenstein & Vogler. The company is a leading sales organisation for the daily newspapers in those three markets

 

1894

Listing at the Geneva stock exchange

 

1916

The company is renamed Publicitas

 

1947

First step to establish an international network (today: Publicitas Promotion Network) with an office in Paris

 

1968
PPN in Germany

 

1972
PPN in the Nederlands, Belgium and UK, followed during the next decade by other countries in Europe and USA

 

1984
First step in Asia with the acquisition of Martin Clinch & Associates in HK

 

1989
Creation of the holding structure / listed company renamed Publicitas Holding Ltd.

 

1993
Acquisition of the two competitors in the swiss market (ofa and assa, today merged within Publicitas)

 

1996
Acquisition of LTV Yellow Pages, first step towards the creation of the PubliDirect division

 

1997
Company renamed PubliGroupe Ltd. - division structure: PubliPresse, PubliDirect, Publicitas Promotion Network and PubliService

 

1999
Joint venture with Swisscom for the directories activities

 

2000

Acquisition of namics Ltd.

 

2001
Acquisition of Emphasis  -  Merger of Real Media with 24/7

 

2004
First expansion in electronic media with the acquisition of cinecom

 

2006
Acquisition of Radiotele

 

2007

Acquisition of zanox.de AG , Bégécom, SBVmedia

2008

Acquisition of Denon