Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner’s Politico Ambitions:

After the Politico investment, Döpfner decided to buy one of the world’s most influential publications, the Financial Times. In 2015, he offered £800 million to Pearson Publishing for it. But at the very last minute, he was outbid by the Japanese publisher Nikkei. “It wasn’t quite the propellers whirling out in Casablanca, but everything was ready to go,” recalls Lionel Barber, the longtime former editor of the FT. He says Döpfner “had been pipped, and he took it hard.” Jan Bayer, Döpfner’s No. 2 at Springer, says he canceled his family holiday and went to his boss’s house to reassess. “We decided then,” says Bayer, “‘Okay, we go for Business Insider.’”

Springer wollte die Financial Times kaufen. (So wie Murdoch das WSJ gekauft hat, I guess.)

Eines von Döpfners Kindern ist Thiels Chief of Staff. Wow.

He has a child with a girlfriend but remains married to the mother of his other three children (one of whom is Peter Thiel’s chief of staff).

Politico plant internationale Expansion:

Backed by Springer’s deep pockets, it has plans to add 100 to 150 new employees over the next year to staff up in foreign and domestic capitals and power centers, the sorts of places where Politico can do its hyperniche coverage of policymakers.

Ich gehe erstmal von jeder größeren europäischen Hauptstadt aus… Berlin, Paris, Madrid, Rom…