Moritz Hunzinger is Professor of PR and Communications at the Faculty of Socioeconomic Education of the Dragomanov Ukrainian State University (2014), Honorary Professor at the Ukrainian-American Concordia University Ukraine (2010). He holds Honorary Doctorates of Philosophy of both Universities and he was appointed as Honorary Senator by the Ukrainian Free University (2008). Since 2015 he is Honorary Professor at the Volyn National University. Since 2018 Honorary Doctor of Natural Sciences of the Institute of Agroecology and Management of Natural Resources of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine. Honorary Doctor of the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine (2021). Corresponding Member of the Portuguese Academy of Letters and Arts. Commander of the Order of Pro Merito Melitensi of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (2017).

His name is entered in the "Guinness Book of Records" (1986). Among other decorations, he was presented with the Certificate of Gratitude of the German Emergency Corps of the Order of Malta (1992), the Bronze and Silver Badge of Honor of the CDU, the Silver and Gold Badge of Honor of the CDA, the Silver Badge of the German Public Relations Association (2004), the German award for communications design "Highest Level of Design Quality" presented by the Design Center of North Rhine-Westphalia (2000), the "Typographic Excellence" award from the Type Directors Club (1999). 1998 Founding member of the Citizens' Committee Paulskirche (St. Paul's Church) 1848 Frankfurt am Main e. V. for the 150th anniversary of the National Assembly at the invitation of banker Johann Philipp Freiherr von Bethmann. He received honors by the Minister President of Serbia (2001), the President of Rumania (1997), the first President of Ukraine (2010), the IBG India Business Group. He was awarded the Gregory Skovoroda Medal of the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine. In 2013 Moritz Hunzinger was awarded knighthood by His Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke Karl of Austria, the Grand Master of the Order of Saint George - the European order of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, in 2014 appointed as Commander of the International Commandery. Order of Archangel Saint Michael the Archistrategos and Order of Saint and Equal-to-the-Apostles Volodymyr the Great of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyivan Patriarchate, Grand Collar of the Order of the Cross of Merit with Star and Sash of the Royal House of Portugal, Knight of the Royal Brotherhood of the Holy Grail and the Fraternity of the Holy Chalice, Cathedral of Valencia. Since 2014 Commander of the International Commandery. In 2014 appointed as First Lieutenant (Armoured Corps Training Centre, InfoDVag). Royal Order of the Drum of Rwanda. Knight of the Order of the Eagle of Georgia and the Seamless Tunic of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Grã-Oficial Honorário of the Ordem de Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Vila Viçosa) (2018) and Grand Cross with Star and Shoulder Ribbon of the Order of Saint Michael of the Wing of the Royal House of  Portugal (2016) Commander of the Imperial Order of the Lion of Ethiopia (2019). Badge of Honor in Gold and in Bronze of the Association of Reservists of the German Armed Forces. Grand Officer of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, House of Savoy.

1979 to 2004: 25 years as a system provider for dealing with public opinion
Under the leadership of board members Moritz Hunzinger and Dipl.-Soz. Menno Smid, Hunzinger Information AG (renamed into infas Holding AG in 2013), founded in 1979, managed three business segments: Hunzinger PR (Frankfurt am Main, Berlin) as the authoritative PR service provider with a network of correspondents all over Eastern Europe, active in establishing business relationships and the experience from 40 IPOs, action press (Hamburg), one of the world's leading photo agencies, and the infas Institute (Bonn), renowned in opinion research for decades. 1998 IPO with 310 times oversubscription - more than € 3.25 billion demand - one of the most sought-after new issues ever. After differences with the major shareholder Bolko Hoffmann, who had invested in the company since 2002, Moritz Hunzinger retired in April 2004 after 25 years as CEO of Hunzinger Information AG, Managing Director of Hunzinger PR GmbH, Chairman of the Executive Board of action press gmbh & co. kg and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of infas Institut für angewandte Sozialwissenschaft GmbH. At last count, the company employed a total of 1,600 people in 30 countries, 125 of them in Germany. "The Supervisory Board would like to thank the Chairman of the Executive Board, Moritz Hunzinger, for his work, which was oriented toward the welfare of the shareholders, and for his cooperation, which was based on human respect" (former Prime Minister of the GDR and former Federal Minister Dr. h.c. Lothar de Maizière, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Hunzinger Information AG, March 2004). "Hoffmann was able to overthrow PR strategist Moritz Hunzinger, but only by buying the company" (WirtschaftsWoche, 2004).


action press AG
- 2023: action press AG breaks the 200 million mark for digital media assets - image database with strong growth
- 2021: action press acquires ddp: one of the world's largest stock photo agencies is created in Germany. action press now with 146,8 million digital assets in inventory, up to 50,000 new images daily - 5,000 photographers and video producers in 120 countries - 130 partner agencies
- 2020: Company management broadening
- 2020: 50th anniversary in September

Frankfurt am Main/Hamburg, September 9, 2021 - As of today, action press international GmbH (Hamburg) has 72.5 million keyworded photos in its database. Including the photo inventory of ddp media GmbH (Hamburg) of 74.3 million photos, action press AG (Frankfurt am Main) has a new total of 146.8 million images. As of August 1, 2021, action press AG reported 110 million photos. On September 2, 2021, action press AG, one of the largest photo agencies in the world, informed that it had acquired 100% of the shares of ddp. "We are not only continuing our growth organically. If it stays at the new pace we have picked up a year ago, we will soon replace Getty Images as the market leader alongside our Chinese competitors," said Prof. Moritz Hunzinger, CEO of action press AG and Managing Director of ddp.

Frankfurt am Main/Hamburg, September 2, 2021- It is the second takeover after the acquisition of the image material of the smaller competitor face to face GmbH in February 2021 and one of the largest in the entire industry of image databases: action press AG (Frankfurt am Main), parent company of the media agency action press international GmbH founded in Hamburg in 1970, secures the image agency group ddp economically retroactive to August 1, 2021. After the takeover, the editorial team of the entire group will process up to 50,000 new national and international photos and videos from 5,000 photographers and video producers as well as 130 partner agencies from 120 countries every day.

ddp is the new subsidiary of action press - synergy effects expected

The ddp photo agency group, whose name can be traced back to ddp Deutscher Depeschendienst founded in Hamburg in 1971, includes Picture Press, Intertopics and FoodCentrale photo agency brands in addition to ddp media GmbH (Hamburg), laif Agentur für Photos & Reportagen GmbH (Cologne) and Stella Pictures AB (Stockholm) companies. The acquisition of ddp media GmbH, which now belongs to action press AG, significantly expands the range of products and services offered by the action press group. Photo reports and features from all over the world, studio portraits of well-known personalities from politics, business and society, high-quality travel, creative and title productions, food content and recipe services, as well as photo syndication for publishers such as The New York Times, USA today, The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times, Mondadori Photo, Gruner & Jahr and the Klambt media group, will enable the editorial range of services to be expanded significantly. The management of action press expects to make a positive contribution to the Group's earnings in the first financial year after completion of the takeover, due to synergy effects resulting from large overlaps between the two companies.

Global Player: action press Media Group

action press has long since joined the ranks of key players such as Shutterstock, Getty Images and Adobe. Publishers, media companies and corporate customers will find a wide range of topics and a selection of current productions and archive material at the action press media group. 110 million photos as well as photo reports and features from the areas of entertainment, politics, business, aristocracy, lifestyle, stock photography, current affairs and sports can be researched online in the agency databases. The action press group, which was relaunched in August 2020, sees itself not only as an interface between photographers, video producers and media customers. It also offers publishers and TV broadcasters the opportunity to have in-house productions syndicated worldwide by their agencies. Media companies can outsource some or all of their editorial work processes. In this case, the 55 action press editors take over photo research, organize commissioned photo productions and take care of the clarification of photo rights. action press syndicates and manages the daily reporting of 30 German regional newspapers of the Regio-Group, which was established in spring 2021. Local news, reports, features and sports reports are turned into breaking news of national importance. In July 2021, action press presented the first video database to national and international media customers. The database contains thousands of video productions from the areas of entertainment, news, lifestyle and features. TV stations, online and other media companies now have the opportunity to download videos around the clock and thus meet editorial deadlines. The agency group also organizes national and international photo assignments, photo shoots, reports and video productions for companies and offers event, sponsorship, PR, reportage and company-specific commissioned photography for the entire corporate sector. The undisclosed purchase price will be financed from existing liquidity as well as newly raised debt capital provided, among others, by the shareholder Deutsche Balaton AG (Heidelberg) via a bond. The shares of action press AG have been traded since May 2021 in the general over-the-counter market of the Düsseldorf Stock Exchange under WKN A2TSNU (ISIN DE000A2TSNU7). In 2022, the shares are to be listed on the Xetra stock exchange. The share capital of action press AG amounts to 22.05 million euros. The Management Board of action press AG is made up of Professor Moritz Hunzinger (Frankfurt am Main), who had already acquired a majority stake in action press in 1999 as CEO of the listed infas Holding AG (formerly Hunzinger Information AG) for 20 million deutschmarks and headed it until 2004, and Ulli Michel (Hamburg), who has been Managing Director of action press in Hamburg since 2010. Hunzinger: "Since day one, action press has delivered the information edge. Following the acquisition of ddp, action press will continue to grow strongly, and not just organically. We will soon evaluate our digital assets and make valuable photos digitally tradable as tokens broken down into digital units as a whole or in parts."

Advisors: Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek; RA WP StB Prof. Dipl.-Vw. Dr. jur. Heinz-Christian Knoll, mwb fairtrade Wertpapierhandelsbank AG; Notaries: FM Notaries Funke Mühe;

Hamburg, August 19, 2020 - action press is setting the course for the future. Prof. Moritz Hunzinger is joining the group of shareholders and will lead the photo agency together with long-time and proven managing director Ulli Michel. Since August 2020, Hunzinger and Michel have formed the Executive Board of the newly founded parent company, action press AG, based in Frankfurt am Main. Both are now also half owners of this "global digital media company". Michel manages the day-to-day editorial business with publishers, media customers, TV stations, photographers and partner agencies. Hunzinger is responsible for strategic development.

"I will make action press the leading photo agency in the digital age", says the new co-owner Hunzinger. "With Moritz Hunzinger onboard, we gained a passionate and well-connected media professional who has been closely associated with action press for many years. He will provide decisive impetus to our future development", says Michel. With Hunzinger, an old acquaintance is returning to action press. Back in 1999, as CEO of the listed infas Holding AG (formerly Hunzinger Information AG), he acquired a majority stake in action press for 20 million Deutschmarks and led the agency as its CEO until 2004. Michel took over action press in the summer of 2018 as part of a management buyout and has been its sole managing director ever since.

About action press:

The photo agency action press was founded on November 13, 1970 by Hamburg police reporter Peter Reinke and photographer Hartmut Doerk. Since then, action press has been reporting on current affairs as an important part of the German and international media landscape. As of May 2023, the agency has up to 200 million photos and is growing daily with up to 50,000 tagged images from 5,000 photographers in 120 countries. With the changes in the shareholder structure, a new chapter is opening for action press on its 50th anniversary after its founding. 

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Press
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infas_Holding
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moritz_Hunzinger
https://www.infas-holding.de/


Prof. Moritz Hunzinger (CEO action press), Ulli Michel (CEO action press),
Notar Johann Jonetzki (Notare am Alstertor), Ulf Schmidt-Funke (ddp),
Katharina Doerk (ddp)