The media Axel Springer Group to be split into two parts

The international media group Axel Springer is to become a family-run media company again and is planning to split up its business. The media division is to be managed by Friede Springer and Mathias Döpfner and separated from the classifieds business

According to the Group, the plans are still subject to regulatory approvals 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, on Thursday.

The move also marks a change in a strategic partnership entered into years ago with the major US financial investor KKR: the classifieds businesses with the job and real estate portals 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.

The Vice Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board and publisher's widow Friede Springer said: "It was Mathias Döpfner's and my clear vision that Axel Springer would one day be a family business again. The fact that this vision is now becoming reality fills me with great joy."

CEO Döpfner, who like Springer also holds a large stake in the media company, said: "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 look like this: The media businesses with the brands "Bild", "Business Insider", "Politico", "Welt", "Morning Brew" and other areas such as the online comparison portal "Idealo", among others, will remain with Axel Springer. Döpfner (61) and Friede Springer (82) control just under 98 percent of the company.

"Axel Sven Springer, a grandson of the company founder, will retain the remaining shares - a smaller part of his previous minority stake. For the first time since the IPO in 1985, Axel Springer will thus become a family-owned company, fully in private hands," the Group said.

The part that will then be 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 shareholding 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