For the first time, the professional information group Haufe tops the ranking, driven by its focus on management and corporate tax, with revenue rising by around nine percent to €496 million. Springer Nature, the long-standing leader, fell to second place following portfolio adjustments in the DACH market. Notably, the global academic publisher generates only about a quarter of its revenue in the German-speaking region and is majority-owned by the Holtzbrinck Group. It is followed by educational publisher Klett, professional publisher Wolters Kluwer, and the trade publishing group Penguin Random House.

Behind the average figures lies a broad performance gap. In 2025, 50 of the 100 companies increased their revenue, while 43 saw a decline. Twenty-one publishers grew by five percent or more, while sixteen lost ground by a similar margin. Revenues range from €496 million at the top to €8 million at rank 100, meaning the entry threshold captures even smaller houses. Only 15 companies generate three-digit million revenues, and the bottom half of the table begins at just €34 million. This highlights the medium-sized character of the industry.

However, this characterisation is relative: more than a third of the listed publishers belong to larger corporate groups. Academic and professional publishers often operate internationally as subsidiaries of major corporations like Wolters Kluwer, Wiley-VCH, or Elsevier. In the trade segment, many large houses belong to international publishing giants such as Penguin Random House, Bonnier, Holtzbrinck, HarperCollins, or Egmont.

The highest-revenue segment, accounting for 54 percent of the total, comprises the 39 professional and academic publishers. They are larger on average and account for nine of the 15 houses with three-digit million revenues. In recent years, digital formats have opened up new business models here, compensating for falling ad revenues. Adjusted for smaller acquisitions, the group grew by an average of three percent in 2025—following gains of just under four percent in each of the two preceding years.

The trade market accounts for the largest number of companies, with 52 houses, but represents only 31 percent of the total ranking revenue. While the largest trade publishers grew nominally by 2.3 percent, this amounts to stagnation in organic terms. The trade market as a whole actually contracted in 2025: according to the Media Control retail panel, sales fell by more than two percent year-on-year across all product categories.

Market movement was driven primarily by acquisitions. HarperCollins nearly doubled its revenue by acquiring the practical guide publisher Gräfe und Unzer, climbing from rank 56 to rank 30. Penguin Random House rounded out its portfolio by acquiring the comic and manga publisher Cross Cult. Beyond this, the volatile bestseller business caused sharp swings: Kiepenheuer & Witsch enjoyed a 25 percent revenue spike in 2024 thanks to Angela Merkel's memoirs, before settling back to its 2023 level in 2025.

The nine educational publishers, led by Klett, Westermann, and Cornelsen, contribute around 15 percent of total revenue. Following a three percent gain in 2024, the segment recorded a decline of similar magnitude in 2025. These providers depend heavily on public sector conditions, including the long-criticised underfunding of the general school system and budget caps on integration courses.

Unlike highly centralised markets like London, Paris, or New York, the German-speaking sector has maintained a decentralised publishing landscape. The 100 largest publishers are spread across 37 locations, with notable clusters in Munich (16 publishers), Berlin (13), Stuttgart (10), Hamburg (9), and Cologne (8). In the traditional book-fair city of Frankfurt, the figure has dropped to just five.