1987–2002: Formation in Flanders In 1987 the Van Thillo family, already the publishers of magazines
Joepie (1973) and
Dag Allemaal (1984), obtained 66 percent of shares in the
Flemish publishing company Hoste NV, publisher of newspaper and magazine
Blik. In 1990 the rest of the shares were acquired and the company's name was changed to
De Persgroep. The company had already bought Flemish newspaper publisher De Nieuwe Morgen in 1989, giving it ownership over a second newspaper,
De Morgen. Also in 1987, De Persgroep was one of nine publishers involved in the foundation of the
Vlaamse Televisie Maatschappij (VTM), the first and main commercial TV broadcaster in Flanders. The channel was launched on 1 February 1989. Each publisher originally owned 11.1% of the new company's shares. On 30 January 1995, Vlaamse Televisie Maatschappij launched a second TV channel, Ka2 (now
VTM 2). In 1992, De Persgroep launched
Goed Gevoel, the group's first magazine. In 1995, the first issue of showbiz magazine TV Familie appeared. In November 2001 at 6 am,
Qmusic went live with the Deckers & Ornelis Ochtendshow. In 2002, De Persgroep expanded to
book publishing and DVD distribution.
2003–2013: Expansion into the Netherlands In 2003, De Persgroep acquired ailing Amsterdam city newspaper
Het Parool, entering the Dutch market. In 2005, the two groups also bought Uitgeverij De Tijd, publisher of
De Tijd, the Flemish counterpart to ''L'Echo''. Editco and Uitgeverij De Tijd merged and became Mediafin, with De Persgroep and Groupe Rossel each holding 50% in the venture. In 2007, radio station 4FM was acquired by
VVMa. In 2009 the station was renamed
Joe. That same year, VMMa started telco brand
JIM Mobile, together with
KPN. In late 1995, PCM acquired the Nederlandse Dagbladunie (publisher of
TVNZ and
Algemeen Dagblad) and became publisher of four of the five national newspapers, four regional titles and door-to-door papers in the
Randstad. PCM sold its stake in
Het Parool to De Persgroep in 2002, making it De Persgroep's first foreign investment. PCM was acquired by British-based investment group
Apax Partners in 2004. In 2005,
Algemeen Dagblad and four regional newspapers were housed in AD New Media BV with PCM holding a 63% interest in the venture. and the PCM Algemene Boeken book-publishing unit (business object Meulenhoff & Co) to WPG Uitgevers and
Lannoo. As a result, De Persgroep Nederland remained the publisher of four national newspapers,
Algemeen Dagblad,
De Volkskrant,
Trouw and
Het Parool. In 2013, De Persgroep acquired the car website
Autotrack from Wegener, consolidating its digital portfolio in the Netherlands.
2014–2018: Acquisitions of Mecom and Medialaan In February 2014, what started out as
Vlaamse Televisie Maatschappij (VTM) in 1987, then becoming
Vlaamse Media Maatschappij (VMMa) in 1999, was renamed
Medialaan (meaning 'media avenue'), reflecting the street in
Vilvoorde on which it is located. The acquisition also included
Berlingske Media a Danish media group particularly known for the
Berlingske newspaper, one of the world's oldest, and the popular tabloid paper
B.T.. De Persgroep sold Midtjyske Media, Berlingske Media's regional newspaper division, to Jutland Funen Media in 2015. In 2015,
Sanoma's Belgian division sold four magazines (
Humo,
Story,
TeVe Blad and
Vitaya magazine) to De Persgroep.
Vitaya magazine was merged with another Persgroep title,
Goed Gevoel, in February 2017. De Persgroep further expanded its magazine holdings when it bought Cascade, publisher of the magazines
Primo,
Eos,
Bahamontes,
Motoren & Toerisme and
For Girls Only, from Dutch media company
Audax Groep in 2018. On 30 April 2019 the company closed two separate deals, whereby three of the former Cascade titles -
Bahamontes,
Motoren & Toerisme and
For Girls Only - were acquired by a new company, De Deeluitgeverij, and a fourth, popular science title
Eos, was sold to the new Eos Wetenschap
vzw. In 2016, De Persgroep carried out several acquisitions in the Netherlands, expanding its portfolio with website
Hardware.info, B2B marketing company Synpact, and online video platform
MyChannels. In Belgium De Persgroep acquired financial comparison website
Spaargids.be. This turned De Persgroep into the sole owner of Medialaan. The company merged Medialaan with its newspaper and magazine publishing holdings in Belgium. To represent this change, the company changed the name of its Belgian holdings to Medialaan-De Persgroep Publishing.
2019-: DPG Media and acquisition of RTL Nederland On 23 May 2019, Medialaan-De Persgroep Publishing changed its name to
DPG Media. On the job and automotive markets, DPG Media joined forces with
Mediahuis. The online platforms
AutoTrack.nl (DPG Media) and
Gaspedaal.nl (Mediahuis) became the joint venture
Automotive MediaVentions. On the job market,
Vacature.com (DPG Media) and
Jobat.be (Mediahuis) merged into
Jobat, the new reference on the Belgian recruiting market. In December 2019, DPG Media announced the acquisition of all Dutch assets of Finnish media and publishing company
Sanoma, gaining ownership of the magazines
Libelle and vtwonen and news platform
NU.nl. Sanoma's Belgian unit, that was already stripped down after selling many of its brands and businesses to both DPG Media and
Roularta in previous years and consequently having become a publisher of home and deco magazines exclusively, was also included in the deal. The transaction was approved on 10 April 2020 by the
Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets and became effective on 20 April. On 1 March 2020,
Christian Van Thillo stepped down as CEO of the company, a role he had taken up for 30 years. His successor was Erik Roddenhof, who previously managed the company's Belgian and Dutch businesses. Roddenhof will continue to run the Dutch division, on top of his duties as the new CEO of the entire group. Kris Vervaet and Anders Krab-Johansen remained CEOs of respectively the Belgian and Danish divisions. Van Thillo became the company's board's executive chairman and in that capacity spearheads the group's strategy, acquisition policy, and the development of the group's media brands. In February 2025, DPG left the Danish market upon selling
Berlingske Media to the Norwegian media group
Amedia. In December 2022, it was announced that the
RTL Group was considering selling its Dutch TV station RTL Nederland. After merger plans failed in 2023, it was officially announced in December that RTL Group was selling RTL Nederland for 1.1 billion euros to DPG Media. The acquisition was scheduled to be completed by mid-2024. The takeover was approved by the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets in June 2025. ==Brands==