Will the Telegraph’s new owner curb its wilder excesses – or make them worse?

## Summary
Instead, journalists at the Telegraph felt “optimistic”, “enthusiastic” and even “cautiously pleased” – one called a takeover by media conglomerate Axel Springer the “best possible outcome”. The reason for this Panglossian response is partly hope that Axel Springer and its boss, Mathias Döpfner, might genuinely be keen on journalism, and partly exhaustion at the end of a wildly convoluted three-year takeover battle. Axel Springer was runner-up in the last auction of the Telegraph Media Group in 2004, when it was pipped to the post by the British Brexit-loving Barclay brothers . She is a board member of the Scott Trust, which owns the Guardian Media Group, and writes in a personal capacity Explore more on these topics Telegraph Media Group Opinion Axel Springer Daily Telegraph Sunday Telegraph National newspapers Newspapers Newspapers & magazines comment Share Reuse this content

## Article Content
Axel Springer boss Mathias Döpfner at an award ceremony in Berlin, 18 March 2021.
Photograph: Bernd von Jutrczenka/EPA
View image in fullscreen
Axel Springer boss Mathias Döpfner at an award ceremony in Berlin, 18 March 2021.
Photograph: Bernd von Jutrczenka/EPA
Will the Telegraph’s new owner curb its wilder excesses – or make them worse?
Jane Martinson
Mathias Döpfner beat the Mail to seize a British institution. But whether he will be a sobering or malign influence is not yet clear
A
fter fighting off one foreign takeover, staff at the paper that
broke the news of the second world war
might have been expected to react badly when meeting their potential new German owners on Monday. Instead, journalists at the Telegraph felt “optimistic”, “enthusiastic” and even “cautiously pleased” – one called a
takeover by media conglomerate Axel Springer
the “best possible outcome”.
The reason for this Panglossian response is partly hope that
Axel Springer
and its boss, Mathias Döpfner, might genuinely be keen on journalism, and partly exhaustion at the end of a wildly convoluted three-year takeover battle. The fight says a lot about the state of the print news business – upended by technological and economic headwinds yet still seen as an attractive bauble for rich power players and important as a home for journalism. For how much longer this persists could well depend on what Axel Springer and its part-owner and boss Döpfner do with it.
First, a brief recap on the torrid history of one of Britain’s oldest papers since the start of this century. Axel Springer was runner-up in the last auction of the Telegraph Media Group in 2004, when it was pipped to the post by the British
Brexit-loving Barclay brothers
. Congratulated for not really being around much, the Barclays banked Telegraph profits while using the papers as
collateral for enormous debts
.
When the banks eventually seized the papers, the Barclay family helped arrange a back-room deal with
Redbird IMI
, a US-fronted group funded by the ruling family of Abu Dhabi. This prompted a battle for control that led to a change in the law restricting foreign states owning news organisations – despite successive British governments not wanting to upset state investors which thought a newspaper could simply be added to all their other British possessions, from nuclear plants to football clubs.
The power of the Telegraph editorial team to unite friends in government
against the Abu Dhabi-backed deal
showed the continuing soft power of the press, if nothing else. The law change led to two other bids, including one by the owner of the Daily Mail group, which was gazumped by Axel Springer.
View image in fullscreen
The Telegraph ran a front-page headline on 23 January 2025 claiming: ‘One in 12 in London is illegal migrant.’ It later issued a correction.
Photograph: Daily Telegraph
Having waited 22 years to finally be considered the frontrunner to buy the Telegraph, Döpfner said the deal was his “dream come true” – calling the paper his company’s “north star”. He has paid a high price for this dream; his £575m offer speaks more to both the history and influence of the Telegraph rather than anything on its balance sheet. While this is now common for newspaper owners – make your profits elsewhere then splash it on soft power – Döpfner’s takeover shows the enduring appeal of old newspaper brands.
His company’s own history may have something to do with it. Now one of Europe’s biggest publishers, Axel Springer was set up in 1946 by an eponymous founder whose known anti-communist views formed the basis of five company “essentials”: the others were upholding free speech and democracy as well as support for the transatlantic alliance and the right of Israel to exist. Its flagship German papers are conservative: serious Die Welt and populist Bild. It also owns Business Insider and Politico, the latter called “
a leftwing rag
” by Donald Trump last year, but widely respected by most.
Döpfner himself is a more mercurial character. He has praised Trump to staff (something he later said was effectively a wind-up) and is a friend of Elon Musk, having not only suggesting it would be “fun” for Musk to
buy the then Twitter
(which of course he did), but asking him most recently to write in support of the German extremist party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)
for Die Welt
.
One senior Telegraph journalist told me Döpfner represented “mainstream conservatism”, whereas in Germany he courts controversy with taboo-busting opinions about free speech. He says his “contrarian bet” is on non-partisan journalism in democracies around the world. His reputation has prompted fears among some that he will seek to promote the wilder excesses of the newspaper’s most recent journalism – an anti-migrant stance that would work in the market he most wants to conquer, the US.
Telegraph sold for £575m as German buyer elbows out Daily Mail
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Like those who believe that the mainstream media are dominated by th

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## Expert Analysis

### Merits
- The fight says a lot about the state of the print news business – upended by technological and economic headwinds yet still seen as an attractive bauble for rich power players and important as a home for journalism.

### Areas for Consideration
- One senior Telegraph journalist told me Döpfner represented “mainstream conservatism”, whereas in Germany he courts controversy with taboo-busting opinions about free speech.

### Implications
- Photograph: Bernd von Jutrczenka/EPA Will the Telegraph’s new owner curb its wilder excesses – or make them worse?
- But whether he will be a sobering or malign influence is not yet clear A fter fighting off one foreign takeover, staff at the paper that broke the news of the second world war might have been expected to react badly when meeting their potential new German owners on Monday.
- The reason for this Panglossian response is partly hope that Axel Springer and its boss, Mathias Döpfner, might genuinely be keen on journalism, and partly exhaustion at the end of a wildly convoluted three-year takeover battle.
- For how much longer this persists could well depend on what Axel Springer and its part-owner and boss Döpfner do with it.

### Expert Commentary
This article covers telegraph, axel, springer topics. Notable strengths include discussion of telegraph. Areas of concern are also raised. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 1111.