The invention relates to folding apparatus for cross folding of printed matter, in particular, of variable section lengths. The object is to avoid damage to the printed matter even at high production speeds, and it is attained in that between one transverse cutting device and two successive, parallel cross-folding devices a signature divider is arranged which is used to divide the signatures alternately into two product flow paths. Each product flow path is in the form of a deceleration line, thereby halving the folding speed.