[6][7] The founding publishers were Gerd Bucerius, Lovis H. Lorenz, Richard Tüngel and Ewald Schmidt di Simoni.

[8] As of 2018, Die Zeit has additional offices in Brussels, Dresden, Frankfurt, Moscow, New York City, Paris, Istanbul, Washington, D.C., and Vienna.

Through the ZEIT-Stiftung (the Bucerius Foundation), he supported various cultural, educational, and social projects, fostering academic research and democratic engagement.

His background in editing prior to the war provided essential experience for the newspaper's early development.

[11] Marion Gräfin Dönhoff was a German anti-Nazi journalist and publisher who joined Die Zeit as an editor shortly after its founding in 1946.

Dönhoff played a significant role in the 1944 assassination attempt against Hitler and became an advocate for German reconciliation with Eastern Europe.

Dönhoff's contributions helped shape Die Zeit into a platform for liberal thought, and she remained influential in German journalism until her death in 2002.

[12] She played an essential role in shaping the newspaper's liberal stance and editorial direction, advocating for German reconciliation with Eastern Europe.

[13] Ewald Schmidt di Simoni was a publishing salesman in the 1930s who was later banned from his profession because he was married to a Jewish woman.

After publishing an article by Carl Schmitt, a former Nazi lawyer, Marion Gräfin Dönhoff resiged in protest.

[17] Die Zeit often publishes dossiers, essays, third-party articles and excerpts of lectures of different authors emphasising their points of view on a single aspect or topic in one or in consecutive issues.

This was not only for graphic reasons, it also represented the founder's self-conception which he published in an editorial called "Unsere Aufgabe" ("Our Mission") on 21 February 1946.

However, the Senate also declined this version that was printed in editions 13 to 18, as it was viewed a misuse of a national emblem for commercial purposes, which is still prohibited to this day.

With the demand from Ernst Samhaber, the Hamburg artist Alfred Mahlau had created the whole first edition which had a five-column break.

Die Zeit did not join the discussion about the return of the traditional German orthography, which was led by Der Spiegel, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Bild.

For the supplement's 40th birthday, Die Zeit published a 100-page anniversary issue, including 40 different covers – one for each year.

[18] With a circulation of 504,072 for the second half of 2012[19] and an estimated readership of slightly above 2 million, it is the most widely read German weekly newspaper.

Being part of the same publishing group, Die Zeit and Berliner Tagesspiegel decided to cooperate in September 2006.

In June 2008, Zeit Online started a cooperation with ZDF and broadcast their news in a display format called 100 Sekunden (English: 100 seconds).

In 2007, Zeit Online started a cooperation with the music magazine Intro, the union Gesicht Zeigen!

On 1 January 2009, Die Zeit withdrew their contribution to the project and handed over administration to the Amadeu Antonio Foundation.

On 27 July 2015, the publishing house started a new online format called ze.tt, aimed at young readers who spend a large amount of time on social-media.