The German group Axel Springer buys 'The Daily Telegraph', bastion of the British right

LondonThe German press group Axel Springer, owner of publications such as Bild, Die Welt or Politico, has completed the purchase, this Friday, of one of the benchmark newspapers of the UK right, The Daily Telegraph. The European communications giant is paying 655 million euros for The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph, ousting, in a lightning operation, the bid from Jonathan Harold Esmond Vere Harmsworth, great-grandson of Rothermere, owner of the company Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), which controls The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday.

The deal ends two and a half years of financial uncertainty and institutional paralysis for the newspaper, and marks the entry of a European mass media powerhouse into the heart of Fleet Street, the historic center of London journalism. The Telegraph has been for more than a century the benchmark for British conservatives, to such an extent that it had earned the nickname The torygraph. Founded in 1855, The Telegraph has held markedly eurosceptic positions in the last four decades. The new ownership assures that the newspaper's line will not change.

The Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph were fervent supporters of Brexit and many of their usual commentaries, even now, are very belligerent towards the European Union (EU). This euroscepticism had its first push, reaching delirious levels and publishing falsehoods, when, in the early nineties of the last century, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson was its correspondent in the community capital. Currently, it is increasingly positioning itself alongside the Reform Party, of the ultra-xenophobe Nigel Farage. Paradoxically, the Axel Springer group has in its statutes the will for European integration.

The purchase operation, led by Mathias Döpfner, 63, CEO and main shareholder of Axel Springer, and also a member of the boards of directors of Netflix and Warner Music, has been described as a "surprise attack". In any case, the purchase represents the realization of a dream. In 2004 and 2015, respectively, Döpfner had already tried to buy the Telegraph and the Financial Times.

The sale of the Telegraph group began almost three years ago, when Lloyds Banking Group took control after the then owner family, Barclay, could not meet the debts guaranteed by the newspaper, which brothers Frederick and David – also owners of The Ritz in London at the time – had bought in 2004. An agreement reached to buy the Telegraph with RedBird IMI, a fund backed by the United Arab Emirates, was blocked by the then Conservative government (2023), due to concerns about placing an influential British press group in the hands of an economic entity with foreign ties. The Labour government, with the Minister of Culture and Media at the forefront, had also opened another investigation into possible risks of concentrating so many media outlets in the hands of the Daily Mail group. The German option presents a much simpler regulatory path. Since Axel Springer does not have any daily print media publications in the UK, there is no risk of monopoly or reduction in the plurality of voices.

Benchmark of the global right

For Mathias Döpfner, the acquisition has a symbolic and personal component. "Axel Springer was founded in 1946 under a British press license. The founder built the company inspired by the Fleet Street tradition, and The Telegraph was his North Star," the executive stated this Friday. With revenues of 3.8 billion euros and profits of 738 million last year, Axel Springer consolidates itself as one of the largest publishers in the world. The purchase of The Telegraph is part of an ambitious expansion strategy in the Anglosphere, where, in addition to the aforementioned Politico, it also has Business Insider and Morning Brew. Döpfner's goal is to make The Telegraph the global benchmark newspaper for center-right press, becoming the Nemesis ofThe Guardian.

Axel Springer's entry finally promises financial stability and an investment program for growth, especially in the US market. Despite the German nature of the ownership and its peculiar corporate structure – which guarantees support for European integration and the State of Israel – the company has assured that it will preserve the distinctive character and legacy of the newspaper. Fleet Street is preparing for a new era in which one of its most venerable institutions will speak English with a German accent, and with an eye on global expansion.