after the death of franz burda in the year 1986, the burda group was reorganized. hubert burda transitioned from editor-in-chief of the "bunte" into the position of publisher. his designated successor was initially peter boenisch, who, however, already had to relinquish this position at the end of 1986, among other reasons, owing to differences concerning the future direction of the publication and the losses into the millions incurred by the bunte. at the end of 1986, lothar strobach was ultimately appointed as the magazine's new editor-in-chief, and franz josef wagner took on the role as co-editor in 1989. after strobach left the burda-verlag in 1994, wagner remained editor-in-chief until the end of 1996. his tenure was only interrupted by an intermezzo of editor-in-chief beate wedekind, who only lasted one year from 1992/1993 as editorial head of the "bunte", however.