The media group Axel Springer buys the US news company Politico and with it its longstanding business partner.
An agreement was signed with Politico founder Robert Allbritton to acquire Politico and the news website Protocol, which specializes in the technology sector, the publisher of the newspapers Bild and Welt announced on Thursday.
As part of this transaction, Springer will also take over the remaining 50 percent of the joint venture Politico Europe.
Springer did not name a purchase price.
Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner spoke to the Handelsblatt, however, of a "record amount".
This means that the purchase price must be at least 630 million euros, as the Handelsblatt reported.
Springer is said to have paid that much for its most expensive takeover to date, the real estate portal SeLoger.
Springer has been running the Politico Europe media platform in a joint venture with Politico since 2014, which is headquartered in Brussels.
With annual double-digit growth, Politico Europe achieved profitability in 2019.
From autumn, Jamil Anderlini will be the new editor-in-chief of the 100-person newsroom.
Politico was founded in 2007 and now has more than 700 employees in the USA and Europe. For Springer, the USA, along with Germany and Poland, are the core market for new investments in the media sector. Since the entry of the US financial investor KKR, the Berlin-based company has been aiming for growth, including through acquisitions. The corona crisis had slowed the group down a bit.