Lars Dahmén to Be New Business Area Head for Bonnier Magazines

Lars Dahmén has served as CEO for daily paper Sydsvenskan since the beginning of 2011, and in 2013 became editor-in-chief as well. In September 2014, he became CEO for the newly formed HD–Sydsvenskan, following the merger of Sydsvenskan with regional paper Helsingborgs Dagblad (HD). Previously, he has served as CEO for IDG’s Swedish operations and editor-in-chief for Computer Sweden magazine, among other positions.

“Lars Dahmén has done a fantastic job with the merger of HD and Sydsvenskan,” says Tomas Franzén, CEO for Bonnier AB. “And with this experience and his background at IDG, he has good insight into the challenges our magazines are facing. I’m very pleased that he has agreed to lead Magazines into the future.”

Mats Carleson has chosen at the same time to leave his position as CEO for Bonnier Tidskrifter on August 1.  He will continue to head Bonnier Tidskrifter until August 1, when Lars Dahmén will take over. Carleson started in summer 2012 as CEO for Bonnier Tidskrifter, where he had previously served as executive vice president.

Michael Cordsen started at Bonnier Publications in 1979 and took over as CEO in 1998. Since 2013, he has been the business area head for Magazines. He will continue in both positions until the beginning of 2016.

“Michael Cordsen is retiring after a long and successful career within Bonnier,” says Franzén. “As CEO, he has delivered strong profits over a long succession of years, through the successful launch of magazines such as Science Illustrated History, among others.

“During 2014 and 2013, Magazines had annual profits of more than SEK 300 million, which is double the profits of the previous years,” says Franzén. “Mats Carleson’s hard work has contributed significantly to this improvement.”

Bonnier’s business area Magazines includes Swedish Bonnier Tidskrifter, Copenhagen-based Bonnier Publications and Bonnier Corporation in the U.S. The business area had sales of SEK 3.9 billion in 2014. The publishers’ popular titles include Science Illustrated, Saveur, Popular Science, amelia, Damernas Värld and many others.

Lars Dahmén will be succeeded at HD–Sydsvenskan by Pontus Bodelsson, who will start as CEO on August 1.