Shareholdership

Our role as a shareholder

During World War II, the founders of the illegal newspaper Het Parool had experienced first-hand that journalism is too important to be left to the interests of individual shareholders. That is why, in 1944, they set up their own foundation so that they could continue to publish their newspaper on a non-profit basis after the war. DMF is the legal successor of this foundation.

Our charter prescribes that we promote diverse, opinion-leading media. Today, we do this as co-owners of DPG Media (14.27%) and De Correspondent (10%). As a shareholder, we aim to protect the independence and continuity of journalism in a constructively critical and not-for-profit manner.

DPG Media

With four national daily newspapers, five regional newspapers and online platform nu.nl, DPG is the largest publisher of journalism in the Netherlands. As a minority shareholder, we always take a committed and constructively critical stance. In doing so, we mainly focus on general operations, strategy and positioning of the various journalism titles. In addition to preference shares, we also have a priority share, which gives us control over the independence and continuity of newspapers Trouw and De Volkskrant Trouw and de Volkskrant.

De Correspondent

To inject a positive boost into journalistic innovation, we invested in De Correspondent in 2014. We endorse the principles and mission of this journalism platform and especially value that they put readers at the heart of the conversation and invite them to share their own knowledge and expertise. Our priority share gives us special control; that way we can safeguard the principles behind the platform. This includes ensuring editorial independence, keeping the platform ad-free and protecting it from profit maximisation.

Photography by: Anne van Zantwijk