{"id":5965,"date":"2026-02-17T21:14:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T21:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/boardgamewire.com\/?p=5965"},"modified":"2026-02-18T12:15:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T12:15:24","slug":"kosmos-takes-full-ownership-of-distribution-arm-thames-kosmos-uk-amid-retirement-of-latters-founding-directors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/boardgamewire.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/17\/kosmos-takes-full-ownership-of-distribution-arm-thames-kosmos-uk-amid-retirement-of-latters-founding-directors\/","title":{"rendered":"Kosmos takes full ownership of distribution arm Thames & Kosmos UK amid retirement of latter’s founding directors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kosmos<\/a>, the German publisher of board games including Catan and the Exit series, has taken full ownership of distribution arm Thames & Kosmos UK<\/a> amid the retirement of the latter’s founding directors Stephen O’Connor and Joanna Drage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Connor and Drage launched the business as Science Shop in 2009, with Kosmos making the company a subsidiary by buying an 80% stake four years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deal makes T&K UK the German company’s first wholly-owned foreign subsidiary. Kosmos currently has another foreign branch in the USA, named Thames & Kosmos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kosmos said in a press release that the buyout of the UK operation was part of the company “consistently pursuing its internationalisation strategy and further expanding its international activities”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added that the British market remains “a key component” of Kosmos’ international growth strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emma Hanlon – T&K UK’s first employee who has been with the business 12 years – and Andrew Morris have taken over as managing directors of the subsidiary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kosmos managing director Thilan Tran said, “Stephen O\u2019Connor and Joanna Drage built and successfully led Thames & Kosmos UK with entrepreneurial vision, high personal integrity, and great dedication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They have sustainably established the Kosmos brand in the United Kingdom and thus made a significant contribution to the international development of our company. We thank them very much for this achievement and the many years of trusting collaboration.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fellow Kosmos managing director Matthias Kienzle, who runs the company in a dual leadership role with Tran, added, “With the new ownership structure and the newly formed management team, we aim to further scale and continuously expand our international sales activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our focus is on further market penetration of existing product categories and the development of additional growth potential.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year Heiko Windfelder, the\u00a0Kosmos\u00a0board game lead who played a key role building up brands including\u00a0Catan\u00a0and the\u00a0Exit\u00a0family of games, retired after 30 years at the company<\/a> – making Tran and Kienzle joint leaders of the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two years earlier long-time managing director Michael Fleissner retired, handing over operational management of the German company to Windfelder, Tran and Kienzle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

W Eric Martin from Board Game Beat reported last week<\/a> that Kosmos’ board game releases this year are set to include Bernhard Weber design\u00a0Temple Twist<\/a>, and Happy Holiday<\/a> by Matthew Dunstan and Brett J Gilbert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kosmos is also celebrating the 10th anniversary of its Exit series of games, which have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide across more than 50 titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Exit releases this year will include a young children-focused Puzzle Fun in the Sea title and a Fourth Wing game based on the Empyrean novels by Rebecca Yarros, while the company will also be sending an armoured truck around Germany in which players can solve Exit puzzles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kosmos’ Exit-themed armoured truck, which will tour Germany this year<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Kosmos managing director Matthias Kienzle said, “With the new ownership structure and the newly formed management team, we aim to further scale and continuously expand our international sales activities.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6,135,1563,50,1562,113,1150,2126,2127,121],"class_list":["post-5965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-board-game","tag-board-games","tag-catan","tag-distribution","tag-exit","tag-germany","tag-kosmos","tag-thames-kosmos","tag-thames-kosmos-uk","tag-uk"],"blocksy_meta":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t