The Bundeskartellamt has cleared the acquisition of all business divisions of Langenscheidt GmbH & Co.KG, Munich, and Langenscheidt Digital GmbH & Co.KG, Munich (hereinafter “Langenscheidt”), by PONS GmbH, Stuttgart (“PONS”), part of the Klett group.

Both PONS and Langenscheidt publish dictionaries and books for language learning. Their products range from print media to several digital products such as online dictionaries, ebooks and apps.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “As a result of the merger the companies will together achieve high market shares both in the markets for printed dictionaries and printed language training products. However, we still had to clear the merger because the markets affected are so-called “minor markets” (Bagatellmärkte) with low turnover. Furthermore, we found that digital offers exert strong competitive pressure. Many consumers are now predominantly using the internet to look up words or learn languages.”

According to the “minor market clause” of the German Competition Act (GWB), a merger cannot be prohibited if the turnover achieved on the domestic market affected in the last calendar year was less than 15 million euros.

Both in the area of printed dictionaries and of printed language courses PONS and Langenscheidt together hold market shares that partially well exceed 40 percent. Cornelsen/BI is a major competitor in the dictionary market. In the language course market the remaining competitors are significantly smaller than the merged company.

The Bundeskartellamt’s investigations included an extensive market survey among competitors in the print segment. The major providers of online foreign language dictionaries and language courses were also consulted.