Saturn opened its first store on the Hansaring in Cologne in July 1961. It was combined with MediaMarkt in 1990 and became part of Metro Group in 1996, before Metro spun off its consumer electronics business as CECONOMY AG in July 2017. Saturn now trades only in Germany. Its stores elsewhere in Europe have closed or been renamed MediaMarkt, and since 2024 many German Saturn stores have also converted to MediaMarkt, including the original Cologne store in March 2025. Around 80 Saturn stores remained in Germany in 2025, alongside the saturn.de online shop.
Saturn is run by MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of CECONOMY AG, which is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (CEC). In July 2025 JD.com launched a voluntary public takeover offer for CECONOMY at €4.60 per share, valuing the company at about €2.2 billion. When the offer period ended in December 2025, JD.com had secured 59.8% of CECONOMY's share capital and voting rights. Convergenta, the holding company of the founding Kellerhals family, will keep 25.35% under an investment agreement with JD.com, taking the combined bloc to 85.2%. The shares transfer when the deal closes, which still requires regulatory clearance. JD.com is a privately controlled Chinese company, not a state-owned enterprise (SOE): founder Richard Liu holds about 70.5% of its voting power through dual-class shares, according to its US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings.
Hive ransomware attack (November 2021). In November 2021 a ransomware attack attributed to the Hive group encrypted MediaMarkt and Saturn IT systems, disrupting checkout and returns at stores mainly in the Netherlands and Germany. The attackers reportedly made an initial ransom demand of USD 240 million.
Regulatory scrutiny of the JD.com takeover (2026). In March 2026 Austria's investment-control authority declined to clear the deal, and JD.com withdrew and refiled its application. In May 2026 the European Commission opened an in-depth review under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation over concerns that JD.com may have received Chinese state support, such as preferential financing, tax incentives and grants. Germany cleared the deal in July 2026 with data-security conditions. JD.com says the acquisition is financed through bank debt and its own cash.
Saturn is classified as Chinese-owned because JD.com, a privately controlled Chinese company, has secured 59.8% of its parent CECONOMY AG, a majority stake that takes effect when the deal closes. Saturn and MediaMarkt share the same owner, so they carry the same label. The acquisition is awaiting final regulatory clearance, including the European Commission's foreign-subsidies decision due in October 2026. If the deal is blocked or abandoned, OwnrCheck will re-review the label.