Axel Springer Group plans split-up
The international media group Axel Springer is set to become a family-run media company once again and plans to spin off its businesses. The media division will be owned and managed by Friede Springer and Mathias Döpfner and separated from the classifieds business, which includes job and real estate portals. According to the company, the plans are subject to regulatory approval, and the transaction is expected to take place in the second quarter of 2025.
"The new structure is intended to optimally position all business divisions for future growth potential and success in their respective markets," said the Group, which has around 18,000 employees. The move also marks a change in a strategic partnership entered into years ago with the major US financial investor KKR: the classifieds businesses will become independent companies with a new shareholder structure - US financial investor Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) and the Canadian pension fund CPP Investments will become majority shareholders.
Vice Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board and publisher's widow Friede Springer said: "It was the clear vision of Mathias Döpfner and myself that Axel Springer would one day be a family business again. It fills me with great joy that this vision is now becoming reality."
CEO Döpfner, who like Springer also holds a large stake in the media company, says: "Before we started the partnership with KKR five years ago, Friede Springer and I had an idea of what the company could ideally look like in a few years' time. That is now probably coming true." The future structure provides the "very best conditions" for a good future for journalism.
This is what the structure looks like
The deal will be as follows: The media businesses with the brands Image, Business Insider, Politico, WorldMorning Brew" and other areas such as the online comparison portal "Idealo" will remain with Axel Springer. Almost 98 percent of the company is controlled by 61-year-old Döpfner and 82-year-old Friede Springer.
"Axel Sven Springer, a grandson of the company founder, will retain the remaining shares - a smaller part of his previous minority stake. This means that for the first time since the IPO in 1985, Axel Springer will be a family-owned company, fully in private hands," the Group said.
The part that is then separated includes companies such as the Stepstone Group (job exchange), Aviv with real estate portals and "Finanzen.net". KKR and CCP Investments will then be majority shareholders in the independent joint venture company - Axel Springer is to become a co-minority shareholder and there is to be an economic participation by Axel Springer's grandchildren.
The exact participation has not yet been determined. It also remains to be seen what the separate part will be called in future or whether there will be several units. (SDA/swi)
