(March 6): German media group Axel Springer SE has agreed to buy UK newspaper publisher Telegraph Media Group for £575 million in cash, torpedoing a rival bid from Daily Mail & General Trust plc.
Any deal will need be approved by the UK government and competition regulator, the companies said in a statement on Friday.
“More than 20 years ago, we tried to acquire The Telegraph and did not succeed,” said Axel Springer’s chief executive officer Mathias Döpfner in Friday’s statement. “Now our dream comes true. To be the owner of this institution of quality British journalism is a privilege and a duty.”
The deal would end three years of uncertainty over the publisher’s ownership. The Daily Mail owner reached a deal to buy the Telegraph group in November, after US private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners withdrew its offer amid backlash from the newspaper’s own staff. However, the £500 million bid by the Daily Mail owner dragged on after the Labour government triggered regulatory probes into the proposed deal last month.
Döpfner has been on a dealmaking spree in the past few years in an attempt to transform Axel Springer into a global media powerhouse. The conservative-leaning German publisher, owner of Die Welt, Politico and Business Insider, has been looking to expand its transatlantic media empire, both in Europe and the US.
Longtime partner KKR & Co bought Springer’s classified ads unit, a money engine for years, for about €10 billion last year. That left CEO Mathias Döpfner and Friede Springer, the widow of the company’s founder, with the rest of the company, valued at roughly €3.5 billion, and a pile of cash.
See also: Bayer sees flat 2026 profits amid settlement efforts over Roundup claims
The Telegraph reported subscription revenues of £68.5 million in 2024, up 18% year over year. Overall revenue was £268 million for the year.
Uploaded by Felyx Teoh
