What Erich Schmidt Verlag does

Erich Schmidt Verlag GmbH & Co. KG (ESV) is a Berlin-based German professional and academic publisher founded in 1926, operating as a privately held GmbH & Co. KG with 11–50 employees. The company publishes across five subject areas — Law (Recht), Taxes (Steuern), Management & Economics, Occupational Safety (Betriebssicherheit), and Philology (Philologie) — and serves lawyers, tax advisors, business professionals, occupational safety officers, and university researchers, primarily in the DACH region. Its portfolio comprises physical books, eBooks (approximately 1,245 titles), eJournals, specialized databases, loose-leaf publications, software (including the distributed FVG-Risikosimulator), study books, and structured series such as the 300-volume Philologische Studien und Quellen and the 54-title Berliner Kommentare.

The technology footprint centers on a set of proprietary digital platforms: esv.info for direct-to-consumer e-commerce, esv-digital.de for integrated professional research, esv-campus.de for university licensing, esv-open for open access, and the myESV account portal for centralized user, subscription, and ticket management. Underlying the digital stack is an integrated publishing system delivering online books, eJournals, databases, and eBooks, with multi-tier licensing (individual, office, firm, institutional, authority, campus, extranet) and integration with the juris legal database via the jurisAllianz partnership. The company also operates the ESV-Akademie (webinars, seminars, in-person conferences in Berlin) and the 'ESV im Dialog' podcast. No public API is documented and the publisher explicitly prohibits third-party text and data mining.

ESV's revenue mechanics combine one-time print and eBook sales, recurring subscriptions across online books, eJournals, databases, and loose-leaf continuations (with multi-year minimum commitments on loose-leaf works), volume licensing for organizations and universities, and professional services revenue from ESV-Akademie events. Pricing ranges from EUR 3.00/month for entry-level online book subscriptions to multi-hundred-EUR individual titles and EUR 129+/year loose-leaf continuations, with organizational licenses scaled by user count. Geographic reach is concentrated in Germany; no public listings, institutional investment, or funding rounds are disclosed.

Name

Erich Schmidt Verlag

Legal name

Erich Schmidt Verlag GmbH & Co. KG

Website

https://esv.info

Company type

Private

Founded year

1926

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Erich Schmidt Verlag is a Berlin-based German professional and academic publisher (est. 1926) offering books, eBooks, eJournals, databases, and loose-leaf works across law, tax, business, occupational safety, and philology for practitioners, institutions, and universities in the DACH region.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional and Academic Publishing

NAICS

Book Publishers (513130), Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)

akta.pro primary industry

Records Management, Information Governance & Retention (BPAEAPAO)

akta.pro secondary industries

E-books, Digital Content & Licensing Distribution (CRAOALAE), ESG Data Platforms, Controls & Audit Readiness (Data quality, internal controls) (EUAHAJAN)

Keywords

• Professional legal publishing
• Academic book publishing
• Digital publishing platform
• Specialty journal publishing
• Loose-leaf publications

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Print Publications: Sale of printed books, commentaries, handbooks, and study materials across legal, tax, business, and philology categories. Individual titles sold at various price points (e.g., EUR 22.00 to EUR 139.80 for standard books, EUR 295.00 for comprehensive commentaries)
2. eBook Sales: Digital versions of publications sold individually or in bundles. eBooks are personally licensed with multi-user options available. Approximately 1,245 eBook titles available
3. Online Book Subscriptions (ESV-Online-Book): Annual subscription service for digital reference materials with monthly pricing starting from EUR 3.00 per month, offering ongoing access to updated legal and tax content
4. eJournal Subscriptions: Digital journal subscriptions providing ongoing access to academic and professional publications in philology, law, and business disciplines
5. Database Subscriptions: Access to specialized databases (e.g., ESV-Digital) with subscription models including annual subscriptions and combination print plus database packages
6. Professional Events (ESV-Akademie): Webinars, seminars, training sessions, and conferences for professionals held in Berlin and online. Topics include controlling with AI, insolvency prevention, Cyber Resilience Act, and more
7. Organizational Licensing: Volume licensing solutions for organizations including office licenses (up to 3 users), firm licenses, institutional licenses, authority licenses, campus licenses, and extranet licenses. Multiplied pricing for organizational deployments
8. Loose-Leaf Works: Subscription-based loose-leaf publications with regular updates and supplements. Example: Staatliche Förderung der Altersvorsorge at EUR 129.00 annually for subscription continuation

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Erich Schmidt Verlag (ESV) is a German professional and academic publisher that produces and distributes specialized books, eBooks, eJournals, databases, loose-leaf works, and journals across five subject areas: law, taxes, management & economics, occupational safety, and philology. The publisher operates digital platforms (ESV-Digital, ESV-Campus, ESV-Open, ESV-Online-Book), offers the ESV-Akademie for professional training, and runs a multi-tier licensing program (ESV-Lizenzen) for individual, office, firm, institutional, authority, campus, and extranet customers.

Product overview

Erich Schmidt Verlag (ESV) is a German academic and professional publisher offering a multi-format portfolio organized around five core subject areas: Law (Recht), Taxes (Steuern), Management & Economics (Management und Wirtschaft), Occupational Safety (Betriebssicherheit), and Philology (Philologie). The portfolio comprises physical books, ebooks (approximately 1,245 titles), ejournals, databases, CD-ROM/DVD products, loose-leaf publications, study books, book series (including the 'Philologische Studien und Quellen' series with 300 volumes and the 'Berliner Kommentare' series with 54 titles), journals, and software. The digital ecosystem is anchored by the ESV-Digital platform (esv-digital.de), which aggregates databases and digital content. Supplementary digital services include the ESV-Campus platform for academic institutions, the ESV-Open open access program, and the ESV-Akademie for professional webinars and seminars. Licensing options range from individual to campus and enterprise licenses. The publisher also distributes the FVG-Risikosimulator software under commissioned processing. Customer account management is centralized through the myESV portal.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ESV-Digital: Digital platform offering eBooks, eJournals, and databases for academic and professional use
• ESV-Akademie
• ESV-Campus
• ESV-Open

Products and services

• ESV-Online-Book Annual subscription service providing online access to specialized legal, tax, and professional reference titles in digital format, with monthly net pricing starting from EUR 3.00 per month per title and instant delivery. Targeted at professionals who need continuously updated digital reference content.
• ESV-Digital Platform Central digital platform (esv-digital.de) aggregating the publisher's specialized databases, eJournals, and online books for legal, tax, and business professionals, providing one-click integrated expert information access.
• ESV-Akademie Professional education and training service offering webinars, seminars, in-person conferences in Berlin, and digital training sessions for specialists and executives in legal, tax, and business topics.
• ESV-Campus Dedicated platform (esv-campus.de) for universities and higher education institutions, providing eBooks, eJournals, and learning software at package prices or via pick-and-choose licensing starting from a single title.
• ESV-Open Open Access publishing initiative offering free access to research content and publication opportunities for academic authors, extending ESV's reach into the open scholarly community.
• ESV-Lizenzen Licensing Program Multi-tier organizational licensing program sold through the dedicated ESV-Lizenzen team, offering Kombilizenz (print+digital), Einzellizenz (single user), Bürolizenz (up to 3 users), Firmenlizenz (enterprise), Institutslizenz, Behördenlizenz (government), Campuslizenz (academic), and Extranetlizenz for law firms, corporations, government agencies, and institutions.
• eBooks Catalog Digital book format catalog of approximately 1,245 titles covering legal, tax, business, occupational safety, and philology subject areas, available as personally licensed eBooks or in multi-user bundles at varied price points.
• eJournals Digital journal subscriptions providing ongoing access to academic and professional journals in philology, law, tax, business, and related disciplines.
• Datenbanken (Professional Databases) Specialized professional databases including the ESV-Digital Staatliche Förderung der Altersvorsorge und Vermögensbildung database, accessible via ticket-based licensing and annual subscriptions, with combined print-plus-database package options.
• Bücher (Print Books) Physical print book publications including academic handbooks, commentaries, and monographs across law, taxation, economics, and philology, sold individually via esv.info with prices ranging from EUR 22.00 to EUR 295.00.
• Studienbücher (Study Books) Academic study books designed for university-level instruction and professional examination preparation across ESV's program areas.
• Loseblattwerke (Loose-Leaf Publications) Continuously updated loose-leaf reference publications with periodic physical supplements and optional digital editions, available on subscription continuation (e.g., Staatliche Förderung der Altersvorsorge und Vermögensbildung at EUR 129.00/year with minimum 12-month commitment).
• Reihen (Book Series) Structured recurring book series including the Philologische Studien und Quellen series (300 volumes over 70 years, approximately 60,000 pages of academic research) and the Berliner Kommentare legal commentary series (54 titles).
• Zeitschriften (Academic Journals) Academic and professional journals covering specialized research topics across law, tax, business, and philology, offered in print and digital formats.
• CD-ROM/DVD Products CD-ROM and DVD-based products containing searchable legal databases and reference works, distributed with installation guides and search function documentation for offline professional use.
• Extranets Secure online portal access provided to licensed institutional customers under the Extranetlizenz tier of the ESV-Lizenzen program, enabling controlled access to subscribed professional content.
• FVG-Risikosimulator (Software) Risk simulation software (FVG-Risikosimulator) developed by FutureValue Group AG and distributed by ESV under a commissioned processing agreement (GDPR Art. 28), downloadable free of charge for professional risk modeling use.

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• juriscoreTechnology or IntegrationjurisAllianz partnership providing current professional knowledge linked with case law and legislation from the juris database. The partnership offers bundled information for user work areas, integrating ESV content with comprehensive legal research capabilities.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• J.B. Metzler: Stuttgart-based German publishing house covering humanities, philology, and linguistics. Directly comparable to ESV's philology (Germanistik, Romanistik) and humanities publishing, targeting the same university library and academic scholar customer base.
• Nomos Verlag: German legal, social sciences, and economics publisher based in Baden-Baden. Comparable to ESV because it publishes German-language legal commentary, academic series, and journals for universities and practitioners across law and adjacent professional disciplines.
• Mohr Siebeck: Tübingen-based German academic and legal publisher with deep roots in jurisprudence, theology, and economics. Highly comparable to ESV given its focus on German legal scholarship (e.g., 'Jus Publicum', 'Studien zum Privatrecht') and academic series alongside professional titles, sharing the same specialist academic/professional niche.
• Recht und Wirtschaft (dfv): Frankfurt-based German legal and business publisher under the dfv media group. Comparable to ESV because it serves German legal, tax, and corporate-management professionals with commentaries, handbooks, and journals, and sells similar campus and firm licensing arrangements.
• C.H. Beck: Germany's most prominent legal and tax publisher, headquartered in Munich. Directly comparable to ESV because it serves the same German legal, tax, and notarial professional market with commentaries, handbooks, journals, databases (beck-online), and loose-leaf works, and competes for the same law-firm, government, and university budgets.
• Verlag Franz Vahlen: Munich-based German publisher specializing in law, taxation, and economics study literature and professional reference. Directly comparable to ESV because it targets the same German law-student, tax-advisor, and economist segments with study books, commentaries, and loose-leaf subscriptions.
• De Gruyter: Berlin-based international academic publisher with strong humanities and legal scholarship programs. Comparable to ESV due to overlapping philology, law, and economics catalogs, German-headquartered operations, and shared institutional/university library customer base in DACH.

Broad incumbents

• Springer Nature: Global academic and professional publisher with a strong DACH presence (Springer has historically been German-rooted). Comparable via scholarly journals, professional reference, and university licensing models, but vastly larger and operating across English- and German-language markets.
• Wolters Kluwer Deutschland: German arm of global legal, tax, and regulatory information powerhouse (parent Wolters Kluwer). Competes with ESV across legal, tax, and compliance reference, but operates as part of a much broader international portfolio including software and integrated compliance platforms.
• LexisNexis Deutschland: Provider of legal, tax, and regulatory information products in Germany (notably the Datev-adjacent ecosystem). Overlaps with ESV in serving German legal and tax professionals with databases, commentaries, and news, and competes for the same law-firm and in-house counsel budgets.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/esvmedien
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCfv3bFK7S0EF4_6jrO0wy6w
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/erich-schmidt-verlag-gmbh-&-co-kg
• Instagraminstagram.com/erich.schmidt.verlag

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Erich Schmidt Verlag