The Abendzeitung ("Evening Paper"), sometimes abbreviated to AZ, is a liberal morning tabloid newspaper from Munich, Germany. A localized edition is published in Nuremberg. The paper is published six days a week; the masthead of the Saturday edition is held in light blue. Rivals on the Munich tabloid market are tz and a localized edition of the national mass circulation phenomenon Bild-Zeitung.
Based on 2006 figures the AZ has an estimated weekday readership of 320 000. 1 based on 225 000 printed copies.2 The newspaper has lost approximately 16.5 percent of sales, compared to the fourth quarter of 1998.
Typical tabloid vending stands in a wintery Munich. The weekend Abendzeitung competes here with local rival tz.
AZ was founded by Werner Friedmann on June 16, 1948 as a street selling newspaper. Friedmann's goal was to provide Munich with a tabloid newspaper also appealing to the intellectual circles of society. Munich and environs are the main distribution areas of the paper. Friedman was also one of the founders of the Munich broadsheetSüddeutsche Zeitung, in which the Friedman family still holds a financial stake as minority shareholder with 18.75% of the capital of the publishing company.