Elsevier Weekblad

EW (formerly Elsevier Weekblad) is the largest Dutch weekly news and opinion magazine, with a reach of 159,000 (print, 2025). The magazine focuses mainly on politics, international affairs and business, where readers tend to be business decision-makers, highly educated, wealthy, entrepreneurial and travel-minded.

It presents itself as a mouthpiece for the “working backbone of the Netherlands” and aims to assist these groups with various choices relating to education, careers, fashion, personal and business-related finances, and leisure.

EW has stood for independent and in-depth background, opinion and analytical journalism. It produces a weekly magazine, a website, a podcast and newsletters. There are also several events per year like the annual HJ Schoo Lecture and the EW Economics Lecture, and selects the Dutch Person of the Year.

The editors have selected a “Dutch Person of the Year” annually since 2004. The choice is usually motivated by the argument that the individual has left a mark on the year, either positively or negatively. In some cases, the person is chosen because he or she is seen as symbolizing the year.

EW has published the annual EW 500 (or Top 500 Companies) since 24 November 2012, ranking the five hundred largest Dutch companies by revenue. The list also provides information on profit, solvency, number of employees, and type of company (such as publicly listed or family-owned). The ranking reflects the position in the preceding year.

The magazine has been titled EW since 1 December 2020. The name change was necessary because the owner of the “Elsevier” trademark, the British publishing group RELX, wished to use it exclusively for its internationally operating scientific publishing company Elsevier.