The DBH Deutsche Buch Handels GmbH & Co. KG (English: German Book Trading Inc. with sole general partner with a limited commercial partnership) based in Munich competes for being the major book trading company in Germany with rival Thalia.
Shareholders of the Verlagsgruppe Weltbild are 14 dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany[2][3] and the Soldatenseelsorge Berlin (English: religious welfare for soldiers).
In Germany, Austria and Switzerland there are the subsidiaries Hugendubel (34 branches), Weiland (33), Buch Habel (17), Schmorl und von Seefeld (2), Wohlthat'sche Buchhandlung (about 50), Weltbild/Weltbild Plus/Weltbild Best (about 260), Jokers Restseller (18), Weltbild!
[9] Eight further departments (in Kiel, Leipzig, Wiesbaden, Frankfurt and Munich) stayed unapproved for a while because of antitrust objections.
In Berlin and Potsdam, the local works council was able to delay and to arouse public interest supported by the trade union Ver.di.
Besides this task, the local works councils (which have much more power than the Konzernbetriebsrat in their range but none beyond) shall get an efficient early warning system to be on notice of new plannings of the group management.