Axel Springer strikes £575m deal to buy Telegraph titles
German media giant Axel Springer has agreed a £575m deal to acquire Telegraph Media Group, ending years of uncertainty over the future ownership of one of Britain’s most influential newspaper publishers.
The all-cash agreement will see the Berlin-based publisher – which owns Politico, Business Insider, Bild and Die Welt – take control of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph.
The deal, however, remains subject to approval from the UK government and competition regulators.
Axel Springer’s chief executive Mathias Döpfner described the acquisition as a long-held ambition for the German publisher.
“More than 20 years ago, we tried to acquire The Telegraph and did not succeed,” he said. “Now our dream comes true. To be the owner of this institution of quality British journalism is a privilege and a duty.”
Rival bid defeated
The agreement scuppers a rival attempt by Daily Mail General Trust, which had been attempting to secure control of the titles after striking a £500m deal in principle last year.
That proposal became mired in regulatory scrutiny after the Labour government launched investigations into the takeover.
The Telegraph’s ownership has been unresolved since 2023, when lenders seized the business from the Barclay family after debts linked to Lloyds Banking Group triggered a forced sale process.
The titles were temporarily controlled by a consortium backed by US private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners and Abu Dhabi investment vehicle International Media Investments.
Yet, political concerns about the potential involvement of a foreign state in the ownership of a major British newspaper forced the group to put the business back on the market, prompting a lengthy and closely watched bidding process.
A transatlantic media push
The Telegraph acquisition marks another step in Axel Springer’s strategy to build a transatlantic media empire spanning Europe and the United States.
Döpfner has spent recent years reshaping the group around digital publishing and political journalism.
In 2023 the company struck a major deal with private equity firm KKR to take the media business private and sell its lucrative classified advertising division for around €10bn.
That transaction left Döpfner and the Springer family with a streamlined media portfolio and significant capital to pursue further acquisitions.
The Telegraph titles would add a prominent British brand to the group’s growing international portfolio of news organisations.
The group has also been expanding its digital business in recent years.
The publisher reported subscription revenues of £68.5m in 2024, an 18 per cent increase on the previous year, while overall revenue reached £268m.