Mathias Döpfner, CEO of European media giant Axel Springer, is nearing a deal with global investment firm KKR, a major shareholder in the company, which would split Axel Springer’s news media business apart from its profitable classifieds business. The deal would value Axel Springer in its current form at around €13.5 billion, according to the Financial Times, though the majority of this value would be held in the classifieds part of the business, which would be valued at over €10 billion.
KKR bought a major stake in Axel Springer back in 2019, in a deal which took the business private. But KKR hasn’t been able to exit its investment as easily as it may have hoped. Splitting the classifieds business apart from the news media arm, which owns titles including Politico, Insider, Bild, and Die Welt, will pave an easier path out of the investment for KKR.
Billionaire Döpfner meanwhile will likely maintain a stake in the classifieds business, according to the FT, but his main interest will be in the news business. Döpfner has been keen to expand the reach and influence of Axel Springer’s news publishing arm, having acquired both Politico and Insider in the last decade, following an unsuccessful effort to buy the FT.
Pursuing a new future for news
With greater control over the spun-off media arm, Döpfner would have more freedom to pursue further acquisitions and international expansion. Döpfner is known to be particularly keen to expand Axel Springer’s US reach.
Döpfner has been vocal with is vision for the future of news media – particularly the challenges and opportunities relating to AI. He has spoken about experimenting with AI-generated content, and been quick to sign licensing deals with AI companies.
On the latter, Döpfner explained earlier this year that his decision to negotiate a deal with OpenAI was driven by Axel Springer’s experience in negotiating payments with social platforms. The company pushed for legislative change for over a decade, in order to be able to collectively negotiate with social platforms – Döpfner said he saw an opportunity in AI to establish a precedent that publishers are paid for use of their content and data.
