Germany Goes Out of Print as Manroland Files for Insolvency
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Germany, which invented the printing industry more than 500 years ago and dominates the market to this day, has lost its talent for making money from the presses.
Manroland AG, the biggest maker of newspaper printing machines, filed for insolvency on Nov. 25, threatening the jobs of more than 6,000 workers. Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, the world’s largest printing-press maker, has lost more than 500 million euros ($667 million) in the last three years. After thousands of job cuts and a botched merger attempt, the onset of a second credit squeeze has hastened their decline.