Entrepreneur Ludo Van Thillo dies (91): DPG Media CEO Christian Van Thillo’s father expanded the publishing company in the 1980s (Inland)

The Van Thillo family publishing house was expanded in the late 1980s under the leadership of Ludo Van Thillo. Since the 1970s they have been publishing Dag Alles and Joepie magazines under the name Sparta, later Magnet Magazines. In 1987 the family bought two-thirds of the shares of Uitgeverij Hoste, owner of the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. In the same year, Ludo Van Thillo decided to invest in Flemish Television with eight other shareholders. The first commercial Flemish TV channel VTM saw the light two years later, in February 1989.

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In 1989, his son Christian – 28 – took over as CEO. That year, the company also bought the publisher of the Flemish newspaper De Nieuwe Morgen, making it a second newspaper owner, the morning. In 1990 the Van Thillo family took full ownership of the shares of Uitgeverij Hoste and the company continued under the name De Persgroep, which we now know as DPG Media.

World War II

The story of the Antwerp Van Thilo family began in 1948, when Cyrill van Thilo – also known as Bill – appeared in the media. After World War II, the Patria printing company in Antwerp was half in ruins, but Bell was undeterred. He divided Patria into the Astra Printing Company and the Sparta Publishing House.

Since the 1960s, Bell’s children have gradually taken over. The eldest and youngest son, Ludo and Joris, focused on media activities. They laid the first building blocks of a large media company in 1978. Since then, the family has been a constant presence in the Flemish media scene.