Ritzau


Ritzaus Bureau A/S, or Ritzau for short, sometimes stylized as /ritzau/, is a Danish news agency founded by Erik Ritzau in 1866. It collaborates with three other Scandinavian news agencies to provide Nordic News, an English-language Scandinavian news service. It is based in Copenhagen and Lars Vesterløkke is editor-in-chief and CEO of the company.

History

Ritzaus Bureau was founded by Erik Nicolai Ritzau in Copenhagen on 1 February 1866 under the name Nordisk Centralbureau for Telegrammer. The agency received international news by telegram from Wolffs Bureau in Berlin.
Erik Ritzau died in 1904. His son, Lauritz Ritzau, was CEO of the company from 1916 to 1958. The Ritzau family sold Ritzaus Bureau to the Danish newspapers in 1947. In 2007, DR became a co-owner of the agency. The company form was changed from an interessentskab to an aktieselskab in 2012.

Operations

Ritzau collaborates with three other Scandinavian news agencies to provide Nordic News, an English-language Scandinavian news service providing sixty stories daily. Ritzau is a member of the European Gruppe 39 collaboration.

Scanpix

In November 2017, Ritzau acquired Scanpix Denmark from Berlingske Media with effect from 1 January 2018. Scanpix is the leading Danish stock photography agency in Denmark with more than 25 million pictures on stock in its digital and physical archives. It collaborates closely with sister companies in Norway, Sweden and Estonia.

Ownership

Ritzaus Bureau is today owned by 12 media groups;
In January 1988, Ritzau journalist Jens Jørgen Espersen received the Cavling Award for his covering of the Thorotrast scandal.