Biography

Neven DuMont grew up in a wealthy home. After studying philosophy, history and literature, he initially worked at "Axel Springer Verlag" and at the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" publishing house. During this time, his passion was acting. Neven DuMont was seen on the stage of the Munich Kammerspiele as well as in the State Theater. Alfred Neven DuMont then traveled to the USA, where he studied journalism at the Medill School of Journalism in Chicago. In 1953 he returned to Germany to begin his career in his parents' publishing house "M. DuMont Schauberg", whose history dates back to 1620. Neven DuMont asserted himself at a young age, since 1955, as the journalistic director of the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger" and showed early on an extraordinary talent in the journalistic and publishing fields. Since its founding, Alfred Neven DuMont has been closely associated with "DuMont Buchverlag", founded in 1956, through positions on supervisory boards.

The book publisher became "DuMont Reiseverlag" in 1968 with well-known book series such as "DuMont Proper Travel", "DuMont Art Travel Guide" and "DuMont Travel Paperbacks". Neven DuMont became the founder and editor of the Cologne tabloid "EXPRESS" in 1964. After his father's death in 1967, he became chairman of the board of the M. DuMont Schauberg publishing house. Neven DuMont married Princess Hedwig von Auersperg. This union resulted in three children Marcus (1967-1995), Isabella (1968) and Konstantin (1969). From 1971 to 1986 he contributed to the Munich "Abendzeitung" and in 1982 to the "Kölnische Rundschau". From 1980 to 1984, Neven DuMont was president of the Federal Association of German Newspaper Publishers, of which he has been honorary president since 1984. He was also a member of the Presidium and Board of Directors of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations as well as President of the Cologne Chamber of Commerce and Industry from 1990 to 1998 and its Honorary President from 1998. As a further external acquisition, MDS acquired the former SED district newspaper "Freiheit" in Halle in 1990, which is now one of the leading newspapers in the region as the "Mitteldeutsche Zeitung".

In 1998, MDS took over the publishing and title rights of the "Kölnische Rundschau". In 2001, in the year of the 125th anniversary of the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger", Neven DuMont was awarded the title of honorary professor at the University of Halle-Wittenberg. In addition, Neven DuMont received the highest recognition of his hometown: honorary citizenship of Cologne. In 2006, the M. DuMont Schauberg group of companies took over the majority (50 percent and one vote) in the "Frankfurter Rundschau" publishing house and acquired a 25 percent stake in the Israeli "Haaretz" group. The M. DuMont Schauberg group of companies was one of the largest newspaper publishers in Germany. On March 1, 2011, Isabella Neven DuMont took the position of board member of the M. DuMont Schauberg media group. At this point, her brother Konstantin represented the family's interests until December 2010. On January 15, 2015, Christian DuMont Schütte took over as chairman of the supervisory board from Alfred Neven DuMont.

- IMDb mini biography by: Christian_Wolfgang_Barth