From audio toy to publishing platform
tonies CEO Tobias Wann at the Global 50 CEO Talk 2026, presented by Bookwire
On 7 October, tonies CEO Tobias Wann will speak on the Dialogue Stage (formerly Frankfurt Studio) at the Frankfurt Book Fair about the journey from a founder-led start-up to a global audio and publishing platform. The 2026 Digital Publishing Award will be presented immediately afterwards.
Published: 2.9.2026 | Foto / Video: tonies
One of the world's most successful children's media formats of recent years is not a book. It is a plastic figurine placed on a fabric-covered cube, and more than 173 million of these figurines have been sold worldwide. The company behind it posted revenue of EUR 630 million in 2025, was promoted to the SDAX, and no longer does its biggest business in the German-speaking market. How the start-up tonies became a global audio and publishing platform, and what conclusions publishers can draw from it, is the theme of this year's Global 50 CEO Talk.
The talk is a fixture on the fair programme, and the guest list follows a clear logic. Invitations go to those who are significantly reshaping the publishing business, whether from within, from the outside or from the sidelines. This year that applies to Tobias Wann, CEO of tonies since January 2024. The event takes place on Wednesday 7 October 2026, from 12 noon to 1 pm on the Dialogue Stage, staged in the foyer of Hall 4.0 as the Publishing Perspectives Forum. That places it on one of the two trade-only days. The session is presented by Bookwire, with Kobo as co-sponsor.
Tobias Wann, tonies
From start-up to the SDAX
tonies was founded in Germany in 2014 and is now, according to the company, the world's leading interactive audio platform for children. Wann took over from founders Patric Faßbender and Marcus Stahl. Since then the company has introduced Toniebox 2 and Toniebox Lite, made North America its largest single market, continued its international expansion and joined Germany's SDAX index.
The financial figures support this trajectory. Annual revenue rose from EUR 361 million in 2023 to the EUR 630 million cited above in 2025, while the adjusted EBITDA margin climbed from 4.0 to 8.6 per cent over the same period. Revenue reached EUR 242.9 million in the first half of 2026, growth of 41 per cent in constant currency. Around 12.6 million tonieboxes and more than 173 million tonies have been sold worldwide to date.
What publishers can learn from this
The conversation will examine how a growing company builds a global organisation without losing its culture of innovation. Also on the agenda are product and content strategy, and the question of what traditional publishers can learn from a model that combines audio, technology, a physical product and direct access to a very young audience.
The economics follow a pattern publishers know from the platform business. The device earns little and serves to build an installed base; the money is made on the content bought afterwards. For anyone supplying content without owning the platform, that raises the same question as audio streaming and e-book retail: where in the value chain they want to sit. It should be one of the more interesting threads of the live interview.
Rüdiger Wischenbart, who co-curates the format, frames the invitation this way: Wann and tonies represent exactly the kind of unconventional publishing leadership the Global 50 CEO Talk was created to examine. Rather than adding another audiobook product, he argues, tonies built a platform of its own and a new way for very young children to engage with stories independently.
Ranking, interview, award
The session is held in conjunction with the Global 50 Publishing Ranking, also presented by Bookwire. On stage, Wischenbart will present the 2026 edition and set out its main findings. Publishing consultant Carlo Carrenho moderates and will open with a conversation with Wischenbart about the ranking and the shifts reshaping the international publishing business. A live interview with Tobias Wann follows, with questions from journalists representing international publishing trade media.
Immediately after the CEO Talk, at 1 pm, the 2026 Digital Publishing Award ceremony, hosted by this publication, takes place in the foyer beside the Dialogue Stage, followed by a reception. Anyone attending the CEO Talk is welcome to join.
Background
The Global 50 Publishing Ranking has mapped the world's largest publishing corporations each year since 2007, combining financial data with an analysis of ownership, international development and strategic change. The 2026 edition is authored by Rüdiger Wischenbart, with DIGITAL PUBLISHING REPORT, Bookdao and Publishing Perspectives as publishing partners. The Global 50 CEO Talk is organized by Ruediger Wischenbart Content and Consulting and Carrenho Publishing Consulting, together with DIGITAL PUBLISHING REPORT.
Guests in previous years have included Núria Cabutí (CEO of Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial), Chantal Restivo-Alessi (HarperCollins Publishers), Jonathan Karp (formerly of Simon & Schuster), Kelly Luegenbiehl (formerly of Netflix Europe), Hou Xiaonan (Yuewen China Literature), Brian Murray (formerly of HarperCollins Publishers), Carolyn Reidy (formerly of Simon & Schuster), John Sargent (formerly of Macmillan Publishers), Arnaud Nourry (formerly of Hachette Livre) and Markus Dohle (formerly of Penguin Random House).
The international media partners for the 2026 Ranking and CEO Talk are All About Book Publishing (India), Bok365 (Norway), Books+Publishing (Australia), Boktugg (Sweden), Hon.jp (Japan), InCT (the Netherlands), Livres Hebdo (France), PublishNews (Brazil), PublishNews Spain, Publishers Weekly (US), Rynek Książki (Poland) and The Bookseller (UK).