In mid-June, the former press director of the Signa Group gave a small group of people in-depth insights into his work for René Benko, Austria’s most famous bankrupt: the communications man gave a lecture in an office in the center of Vienna that, among other things, takes care of the financial director of the financially ailing Signa…
As part of his PR presentation, Benko’s communications man threw a slide at the wall. It read: “Signa / Lamarr vs. Kronen Zeitung 2021”.
The background: The “Krone” had always reported critically on the planned shopping block on Vienna’s Mariahilfer Straße and had questioned its necessity.
A building skeleton as a memorial for delusions of grandeur
Rightly so, as has become especially apparent since the collapse of the opaque Signa conglomerate. The construction site has been at a standstill for 190 days. Since then, a building skeleton has defaced a shopping street as a memorial to real estate megalomania. But Benko’s former press spokesman apparently still enjoys the fact that he managed to place several advertising pages in the “Krone” in 2021 in order to beat the clumsy advertising drum for a disaster project.
This example shows that even opponents cannot ignore the “crown” that is owed only to its readers. Presence in what is by far the largest daily newspaper in Austria is also important to them.
In the autumn of 2022, Benko’s trading division Signa spared no expense to officially launch the luxury department store project with a pompous party in the Museum Quarter.
He was given the name “Lamarr”. An international supermodel was hired as a presenter. The famous Toni Garrn was hired to take pictures with Benko and other Signa executives. According to research by ‘Krone’, she was charged a total of 48,000 euros through a Paris agency for the performance in Vienna.
The recipient of the invoice: Benko’s press officer at the time.
Today, retail experts believe that the gray concrete framework can only be demolished because it was designed incorrectly.
Today, Green District Leader Markus Reiter, once a proponent of Signa concrete seals in Vienna’s new building, would do well to encourage the city’s leaders to purchase the property in order to demolish the building’s shell.
Today, surveys show that a Hedy Lamarr Park would create a wave of enthusiasm among the Viennese.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
