Hongkong was founded and opened in 1987. In 1989 and 1990 business began in Czech Republic and Romania. The programmes Cash-TV, Spotlights, MotorShow and Gesundheit-SprechStunde launched in 1993, two years before the show PresseTV was first broadcast. In the same year, activities in Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary and Vietnam started. However the activities in Poland and Bulgaria stopped after three years. In 1999 Ringier acquired a 50% share in the TV-channel Sat.1 Schweiz. In 2001 Ringier sold half the shares of Betty Bossi to Coop. On 15 May 2006, the company launched heute, Switzerland's first free evening newspaper. Blick am Abend replaced heute on 2 June 2008. In June 2007, the publication of the economic journal Cash was stopped after 18 years. On 21 December 2012, Coop acquired the remaining 50% shares of Betty Bossi from Ringier. On 24 November 2005, Chairman Michael Ringier announced that former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder will advise the company in important matters starting January 2006. In 2009 Ringier transferred its physical picture archive to the Aargau state archive. In 2010 the editorial offices of Blick, SonntagsBlick, Blick am Abend and Blick.ch, together with Web-TV, were joined to form the largest and most modern newsroom in the country. The gradual expansion into the growth markets in Africa in 2011, focused primarily on digital services. At the beginning of 2012 Ringier founded a joint venture with bank zweiplus under the existing umbrella brand cash, which offers online-, finance- and economic information, online financial-services and online banking. The entire direct client business of bank zweiplus was outsourced into this company. Together with zurich publishing house Tamedia, Ringier acquired the jobs.ch Holding AG from the US associated company Tiger Global Management. In October 2012, the competition commission gave its approval for the acquisition of the largest job platform in Switzerland. In July 2014 Ringier announced the sale of 49% shares of the subsidiary Scout24 Switzerland AG to the American investor KKR. This partnership was the first of its kind in the 180-year company history of Ringier. By spring 2016, la Mobilière took over the shares of KKR and since then holds 50% of the Scout24 Switzerland AG. Ringier still consolidates the company. Joint Venture with Axel Springer in Eastern Europe On 23 March 2010, Ringier and the German media company Axel Springer SE announced their intention to form a joint venture headquartered in Zurich, both companies hold 50%. The