Deloitte Legal client FUNKE acquires leading food platform Chefkoch from RTL Deutschland

A Deloitte Legal team led by Dr. Michael von Rüden (partner, Corporate/M&A, Düsseldorf) and Dirk Hänisch (partner, Corporate/M&A, Düsseldorf) advised FUNKE Mediengruppe on the acquisition of the food platform Chefkoch from Gruner + Jahr, a company under the umbrella of RTL Deutschland.

FUNKE Mediengruppe is thus strengthening its position in the food segment in the German market. With the 100 percent takeover of Chefkoch GmbH, both the brand and the team of around 100 employees are moving to FUNKE. The kochbar.de portal will also become part of FUNKE. Chefkoch GmbH will remain the operator of the digital offering essen-und-trinken.de. Chefkoch's headquarters in Bonn will thus become another location on the FUNKE Germany map. Christine Nieland will remain on board as managing director and will continue to lead the brand and the company together with her current management team.

"Chefkoch is the top dog on the market and firmly established in people's minds as the best-known port of call for those interested in cooking and baking. With this integration, we are taking our already strong food expertise to a whole new level – this will be a key growth area for FUNKE and fits in well with our strong target groups," says Jesper Doub, Managing Director of FUNKE Medien National Brands, in the press release. "We are consistently continuing on the path we have taken with the GALA, BRIGITTE, and ELTERN brands and integrating other strong national brands, especially in the digital sector."

About Chefkoch:

Chefkoch reaches around 20 million unique users per month, making it the number one digital food platform in Germany. With a wide variety of recipes (over 360,000), numerous smart features, and an active community, Chefkoch is an indispensable companion in the everyday cooking lives of many users. This is also reflected in its strong reach, with more than 223 million monthly page impressions and strong user loyalty, with over 8 million registered users. The brand's social media presence is also growing steadily: 1.4 million people follow the brand on Pinterest, on Instagram it has 751,000 followers, and Chefkoch has 335,000 followers on TikTok.

Consultant FUNKE Mediengruppe

Deloitte Legal Germany: Dr. Michael von Rüden (co-lead, partner), Dirk Hänisch (co-lead, partner), Horst Heinzl (counsel), Christoph Meves (counsel), Maximilian Giepmann (associate), and Victoria Zahn (associate, all corporate/M&A, all Düsseldorf), Nikola Werry (Partner, Digital Law, Frankfurt), Jan Rudolph (Counsel, Digital Law, Düsseldorf), Alina Birgit Scheja (Associate, Digital Law, Frankfurt), Claus Wilker (Employment Law, Counsel, Hanover)