Axel Springer, the Berlin-based German media group, agreed Friday to buy the owner of Britain’s Daily Telegraph in a deal worth 575 million pounds ($766 million), the companies said. The agreement ends a prolonged fight over the future of Telegraph Media Group, which produces the 171-year-old, conservative-leaning Daily Telegraph along with its Sunday sister paper and the Telegraph news website, according to the announcement.
The transaction also fits into Axel Springer’s stated plan to invest in the Telegraph business and position it as a leading center-right outlet in the English-speaking world. Axel Springer also said it aims to “turbocharge” expansion into the United States, aligning the U.K. acquisition with its broader growth strategy.
Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner said in the announcement that more than 20 years ago the company tried to acquire The Telegraph but did not succeed, framing the new agreement as “our dream comes true.” The German company’s current portfolio includes titles such as Bild and Welt, as well as Business Insider and the political information group Politico, the announcement said.
The deal comes after years of uncertainty for the Telegraph titles’ ownership following the decision by the Barclay family, which previously owned the Telegraph group. The Telegraph Media Group was put up for sale in 2023, with the sellers citing the need to help pay off family debts, and multiple bids emerged over the following years.
A bid that involved a consortium backed by RedBird Capital Partners and Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi’s royal family and the vice president of the United Arab Emirates, was later withdrawn in 2024. The companies said the consortium pulled out after strong opposition from the U.K. government, which launched legislation to block foreign state ownership of the British press.
Another attempt came from Daily Mail and General Trust, the company that owns the right-of-center Daily Mail. That company made a 500 million-pound offer earlier this year, but the U.K. ordered it be investigated over concerns about the purchase’s potential impact on competition and what officials described as the “plurality of views” in Britain’s media.
In response, the failed suitor criticized what it called a “protracted and out-of-date regulatory framework” for sinking its bid, while saying it “wish[es] every success to Axel Springer and the Telegraph.” Separately, The Spectator, a conservative news magazine that was previously part of the Telegraph group, was sold separately in 2024 to British hedge fund investor Paul Marshall, according to the announcement.