Axel Springer In Talks To Buy Ownership Stake In Politico For $1B

Axel Springer SE is in talks to purchase an ownership stake in Washington, DC, publisher Politico, according to people familiar with the matter, a deal that would consummate a yearslong relationship between the two companies.

The deal talks aren’t final and could still fall through. The talks also include the possibility of a full buyout, the people said.

The German publisher teamed up with Politico in 2014 to launch Politico’s European edition the following year in a 50/50 joint venture. The operation is based in Brussels with offices throughout the continent.

Axel Springer, which owns the German newspapers Bild and Die Welt, has been adding to its US media holdings in recent years. The company purchased Business Insider in 2015 for about US$500 million and recently bought Morning Brew, a digital publisher that has focused largely on business.

Launched in 2007, Politico reshaped Washington coverage with its blanket reporting on all things political, rapid-fire blog posts, morning email blasts, and in-depth tracking of elections and legislative happenings. That later paved the way for a move toward events and high-price subscription services.

In a memo to employees, Politico publisher Robert Allbritton wrote that the company wasn’t commenting on potential deal talks, adding that the company might seek to eventually combine Politico and Politico Europe into a single publication.

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