| 👁 Proposed deletion | This page was proposed for deletion by Drmies (talk · contribs) on 23 February 2022. |
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Proposed edits to improve the article
[edit]Hello everyone,
I would like to suggest some upcoming edits to this article. My goal is to expand and improve the English version by incorporating well-sourced information from the updated German article on CEWE, which currently provides a more comprehensive and well-referenced overview of the company’s history, structure, and operations.
I have gathered a range of reliable secondary sources to support these additions. Since the maintenance template already notes that the article could benefit from content based on the German version, I would like to proceed carefully and transparently by announcing my intentions here in advance.
I’ll make sure that all proposed additions follow Wikipedia’s policies on neutrality, verifiability, and reliable sourcing. Feedback from other editors during this process is very welcome.
Thank you! Eichhörnchen25 (talk) 12:33, 28 October 2025 (UTC)[]
Edit request February 2026
[edit]Edit request February 2026 (Infobox and History)
[edit]| 👁 Image | The user below has a request that an edit be made to Cewe Group. That user has an actual or apparent conflict of interest. The requested edits backlog is very high. Please be extremely patient. There are currently 442 requests waiting for review. Please read the instructions for the parameters used by this template for accepting and declining them, and review the request below and make the edit if it is well sourced, neutral, and follows other Wikipedia guidelines and policies. |
I am submitting this edit request because previous edits to the article were reverted in full. To ensure transparency and to follow Wikipedia’s established editing process, I am therefore proposing these changes via an edit request on the article’s talk page. As suggested in July 2019, most of my suggestions are based on the German article.
Edit request Infobox
[edit]The current infobox is outdated and does not reflect the company’s key facts that are already documented and sourced in the German article. I request updating the infobox (consistent with the German Wikipedia version and publicly available corporate information).
Infobox (before)
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Infobox (proposal)
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Edit request History
[edit]At present, the article contains no information on the company’s history. I propose adding a concise “History” section summarising the development, including its founding and transformation from a traditional photo laboratory into a European photo services company. The proposed text is a neutral summary translated and adapted from the German Wikipedia article, which is based on reliable secondary sources.
Early years (proposal)
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On 1 May 1912, August Friedrich Carl Wöltje founded a "Photographic Institute" in Oldenburg.[5] From 1924, he expanded his business to include the sale of cameras and accessories.[6] His son-in-law Heinz Neumüller joined the company as managing partner.[5] In 1950, Carl Wöltje opened a colour laboratory, supplying several hundred photo shops. Heinz Neumüller and his wife Sigrid, Carl Wöltje’s daughter, founded Cewe Color in Oldenburg in 1961,[7] named after Carl Wöltje’s initials (CW: German pronunciation: [ˈtseːvə].[5][8] Cewe built a photo laboratory in 1964[9] on a 50,000 m2 site in Oldenburg-Kreyenbrück. In 1971, the company began operations in the Netherlands. In 1973, Cewe merged with "Vereinigte Color" in Hamburg and Bremen and changed its name to "Vereinigte Cewe Color Betriebe". In the second half of the 1970s and early 1980s, Cewe took over additional laboratories in Germany and abroad.[10] From 1986, new facilities opened in Mönchengladbach, Paris, Berlin and Worms.[11] In 1989, Cewe introduced the Eurocombi bag for storing photo orders. In 1992, the group was restructured as Cewe Color Holding AG and, in 1993, was listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.[12][13] Cewe later expanded into France, Scandinavia and Central Europe.[14] |
Digital photography (proposal)
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In the 1990s, Cewe developed the Photo Index, a miniature print of all images on a film roll, delivered with the developed photos and negatives to simplify reorders.[15][16] In 1995, the company installed its first digital image transfer station in a photo shop.[17] From 1997, it was also possible to order digital photos online.[18][19] In 2001, Cewe introduced an in-store terminal that transferred digital photos directly to CD.[15] In the course of the analogue-digital transformation, several large Cewe photo laboratories across Germany had to be closed between the late 1990s and early 2000s.[20][21] By the early 2000s, printing photos from negatives had largely disappeared.[22][23] In 2005, the company introduced the Cewe photo book.[19] In 2007, the number of digital images developed (1.515 billion) exceeded the number of photos developed from film (1.277 billion) for the first time. The following year, Cewe acquired the Münster-based company Diron, which later became Viaprinto, a commercial online printing company.[24] |
Cewe on the stock exchange (proposal)
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The company was listed on the SDAX until 15 June 2007 and was readmitted to the SDAX on 4 March 2009.[25] Cewe was also listed on the Lower Saxony stock index Nisax20.[26] In 2007, a conflict arose between Cewe’s management and the shareholder M2 Capital Management AG, a Swiss private equity company. M2 Capital demanded a substantial increase in the dividend, which, according to Cewe’s executive board and several major shareholders, would have jeopardised the company’s restructuring and long-term orientation.[27][28] The investment funds involved in M2 Capital accused Cewe’s executive and supervisory boards of failure and called for the management’s resignation.[29] The attempt was unsuccessful. Sebastian Freitag, owner of the investment bank Freitag & Co., who advised the two hedge funds M2 Capital and K Capital and represented their interests on Cewe’s supervisory board, resigned on 8 February 2007.[30] Six years after the conflict, Cewe changed its legal form from a public limited company (Cewe Color Holding AG) to a Stiftung & Co. KGaA, thereby reducing the shareholders’ ability to exert influence.[29] |
Developments since the 2010s (proposal)
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In February 2012, Cewe acquired Saxoprint GmbH in Dresden[31][32] and introduced a smartphone app that could be used to order the company's photo products.[33][34] The company went on to acquire the French photo app firm Cheerz in 2016,[35] the online printing company Laserline in 2017,[32] and Whitewall Media GmbH in April 2019.[36] In March 2022, the board of trustees of the Neumüller Cewe Color Foundation announced it would not renew CEO Christian Friege’s contract beyond December 2022, citing differing views on corporate management as the reason.[37] At the end of April 2022, it became known that a descendant of the company’s founder, who is a member of the Neumüller Cewe Color Foundation, had made use of a special provision under which Christian Friege was to remain on the company’s executive board.[38] However, he subsequently declined the appointment, and Yvonne Rostock was appointed as the new chief executive officer.[39] On 1 May 2025, Thomas Mehls succeeded Yvonne Rostock.[40] |
refs
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References
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~2026-79519-5 (talk) 13:14, 5 February 2026 (UTC)[]
- @~2026-79519-5: You say "As suggested in July 2019". Can you clarify that? When and where was this mentioned in July 2019? Did you use an account to make the suggestion? If so, what account? JBW (talk) 22:24, 8 February 2026 (UTC)[]
- Hello JBW, I am referencing the expand language suggestion that was added to the article in 2019:
{{Expand language|topic=|langcode=de|otherarticle=Cewe|date=July 2019}}
. Sorry if that was unclear in my previous message. I thought it was worth mentioning that the suggestion to add translated content was already added by someone else. ~2026-10426-62 (talk) 07:29, 16 February 2026 (UTC)[]
- Hello JBW, I am referencing the expand language suggestion that was added to the article in 2019:
- OK, thanks for the clarification. I hadn't looked at the tags on the article. It looks as though you may be the person who previously edited under the username Eichhörnchen25; is that so? JBW (talk) 14:34, 16 February 2026 (UTC)[]
- No, I’ve never used a Wikipedia account before. ~2026-10426-62 (talk) 08:52, 18 February 2026 (UTC)[]
- OK, thanks for the clarification. I hadn't looked at the tags on the article. It looks as though you may be the person who previously edited under the username Eichhörnchen25; is that so? JBW (talk) 14:34, 16 February 2026 (UTC)[]