Acquisition by Axel Springer

In October 2021, the large German publishing and media firm Axel Springer SE announced that it had completed the acquisition of Politico for over $1 billion. The closing took place in late October 2021.[52][53][54] The new owners said they would add staff, and at some point, put the publication’s news content behind a paywall.[55][56][57] Axel Springer’s Chief Executive Mathias Döpfner said that Politico staff would need to adhere to Axel Springer’s principles,[58] including support for a united Europe and Israel’s right to exist, advocate the transatlantic alliance between the United States of America and Europe and a free-market economy, and that staff who disagree with the principles “should not work for Axel Springer, very clearly”.[59] Axel Springer said that they would not require Politico employees to sign documents in support of a transatlantic alliance or Israel, though this policy is enforced at German newspaper Bild, another Axel Springer subsidiary.[60]

In September 2022, Politico published an exposé critical of NGO leadership at the helm of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic response, written in cooperation with the German newspaper Die Welt, another Axel Springer property.[61] In May 2025, Argentine entrepreneur and Axel Springer board member Martín Varsavsky resigned after accusing Politico of left-wing bias.[62][63] Varsavsky cited Politico’s news coverage of Israel during the Gaza war.[64]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politico#Acquisition_by_Axel_Springer