Written by: K. Amanuel
The Condé Nast Ltd. is a subsidiary of British publishing group Condé Nast Publications, and the Germany subsidiary was founded in Munich in 1978. Condé Nast Germany portfolio is quite impressive. It includes Vogue, Glamour, GQ and Wired. The company, however, continues to expand. Just shortly after it revealed that it has increased its investment in exclusive online luxury jeweler RenéSim from 41 percent to 46 percent, Condé Nast Germany has announced that it has acquired a 26 percent share in Berlin start-up MONOQI. The acquisition of the RenéSim is part of the company’s “international diversification strategy.” According to Moritz von Laffert, the Managing Director of Condé Nast Germany and VP of Condé Nast International, the investment is a perfect fit for the publisher’s strategy because of “[RenéSim‘s] philosophy of unconditional quality and exclusivity and its discerning customer profile.” He also pointed out that “RenéSim is perfectly suited to Condé Nast and our investment strategy.” Moritz von Laffert alluded that such investment will continue in the future: “We specifically target young, innovative businesses where we can contribute actively to a sustainable increase in value and which, as new business models, can provide meaningful additions to our media portfolio.”
The founder of this e-commerce company RenéSim represents the fifth generation of his family in the jewelry business and it is one of Europe’s first online luxury jewelers company. It offers high-quality jewelry as well as custom-made items. It was started in Germany but has since expanded to the United Kingdom and France. RenéSim is an exclusively online jeweler with no intermediate dealers. RenéSim has claimed that its sales volume quadrupled since Conde Nast‘s investment in 2011. Maximilian Hemmerle and Georg Schmidt-Sailer, the founders and Managing Directors of RenéSim said, “Condé Nast’s exclusive media brands give us valuable access to our hard to approach, discerning target group. In addition, with its worldwide presence and global brands, Condé Nast is the ideal partner for the continued internationalisation of our business model.”
Condé Nast is one of the world’s most celebrated media brands. RenéSim is Europe’s first online jeweler with 175 years of family tradition and whose clients included the duchess of Windsor in the early 20th century. The investment move makes sense for both. RenéSim gets to reach its target group while the big media powerhouse Condé Nast will expand its portfolio and expanding e-commerce while exploring opportunities and integrating content and commerce.