European publishing powerhouse Axel Springer has announced a significant company restructure, unveiled in a message from CEO Mathias Döpfner to employees this week.
KKR and CPP Investments will acquire a majority stake in the Stepstone Group, Aviv Group, finanzen.net, and, pending approvals, Awin held as separate joint venture companies (“AS Classifieds”) of which Axel Springer SE becomes a minority co-shareholder (with around 15%). All other businesses including BILD, Business Insider, POLITICO, WELT, idealo, Bonial, Morning Brew, Dyn, EMARKETER, and the joint venture Ringier Axel Springer Poland with ONET and FAKT – as well as startups like hy, WORLD.MINDS and others – will remain part of Axel Springer SE.
In his statement to staff, Döpfner said:
‘We are very happy and grateful with this result, as it secures the future of both parts of the company in the best possible way. It represents the logical next step in a long development that I have led as CEO for more than two decades now.’
‘Our goal is clear: to build the leading transatlantic digital media company in the democratic world with entrepreneurship, creativity and integrity as our guiding principles. I am a firm believer in the future, the role, and relevance of journalism. The more that fake news, polarization, and partisan positioning define our media landscape, the more I believe in our mission. Democracy. The rule of law. Human rights. Our core value is freedom. This is well summed up by my favorite quote from Pericles: The secret to happiness is freedom, and the secret to freedom is courage.’
The company’s new set-up is set to become ‘faster, more agile and less bureaucratic’, taking advantage increasingly of the power of artificial intelligence, and being led by a ‘much leaner management structure’ Amongst the changes, Ralph Büchi will step down as Chairman of the Supervisory Board and become the founding Chairman of the new Advisory Board of Axel Springer. As such he will continue to advise the board on strategic decisions.
You can read the announcement in full here.