Franz Burda

He inherited his father's publishing business, which he developed into what is now the Hubert Burda Media conglomerate.

He received his doctorate in 1927, at the University of Erlangen with an economic history of the development work of the Baden-products markets.

[3] He benefited from "Aryanization" of Jewish property by the Nazi government when in 1938 Burda and partners acquired Großdruckerei, Papiergroßhandlung und Papierwarenwerk Akademiestraße Gebrüder Bauer in Mannheim.

[4] Its owner Berthold Reiss and fellow shareholders were Jews, and so they were forced to sell the business under Nazi "Aryanization" laws.

Reiss’s son Hans would later write that the pair established a good working relationship, despite the circumstances of the acquisition.