The German media conglomerate swooped in and seized the prize at the last minute when it looked as though the Daily Mail General Trust was set to buy The Telegraph earlier this year.
This is a defeat for the old print press aristocracy of Britain.
It was predictable that Keir Starmer would wave through the £575 million deal. The Labour leader is in bunker mode these days. And even if he weren’t, his political instincts always favour appeasement of the right.
There is certainly ample precedent for this decision. Successive British governments have acquiesced to media tycoons like Rupert Murdoch buying up newspapers in a bid to win positive coverage.
Unlike Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, however, who both found an ally in Murdoch, Starmer won’t be getting any good press from this deal.
Axel Springer’s takeover of the paper certainly won’t reverse The Telegraph’s decline. Despite Boris Johnson, a former employee, playing a key role in 14 years of Tory misrule, The Telegraph had already pivoted to a tabloid-style approach.
The days when The Telegraph was the most establishment of establishment newspapers, the Tories’ paper of choice, have given way to a crasser product that prioritises culture-war content and aligns itself with Reform UK.
But it still matters that Springer’s Bild will now serve as The Telegraph’s primary role model rather than the Daily Mail.
Foreign ownership has long been a point of contention for the British media.
The Telegraph’s sale comes after three years of uncertainty, in which conservative talking heads lambasted the vague possibility of RedBird IMI buying the newspaper because the joint venture is partly Qatari-owned.
This is nothing new, of course. Anyone with a sense of history will recall that Rupert Murdoch partly got the News of the World because he was seen as “more British”, as an Australian, than Robert Maxwell, who was born into a Czech Jewish family.
Truth be told, many Brits are relieved that Lord Rothermere failed to buy The Daily Telegraph and fold it into the warmth of his right-wing empire. However, this is only because they don’t know Axel Springer’s newspapers, especially Bild with its notoriously anti-migrant coverage.
Axel Springer’s purchase of The Telegraph is a great victory for its CEO, Mathias Döpfner, who is set to succeed Friede Springer as owner.
Although not well known in parochial England, Axel Springer owns conservative broadsheet Die Welt as well as Bild, not to mention Anglophone brands like Politico and Business Insider.
Döpfner might be the most significant European figure in global media since Axel Springer himself, who co-founded the publisher in 1946
Springer was often described as Germany’s Rupert Murdoch. But it might be better to say that Murdoch is the Axel Springer of the Anglosphere.
Less than 15 years after Springer launched Bild in 1952, it had become the most successful newspaper in Europe, with a circulation of 4.5 million.
All newspapers are in decline these days. Yet Bild still has over a million readers of its print edition alone.
By contrast, the UK’s biggest circulation newspaper, The Metro, reaches an estimated 900,000 readers a day, whereas The Daily Mail has over 600,000 readers a day. Although The Telegraph’s numbers are harder to pin down, the Press Gazette estimates its reach at just 150,000 readers per print copy.
While Döpfner has pledged to “invest significantly in The Telegraph’s editorial excellence and international growth”, it’s unrealistic to expect a significant increase in readership.
This deal isn’t a quixotic attempt to restore the paper to its former glory, when The Daily Telegraph was on the breakfast table of Conservative households across Britain. The only reason anyone buys newspapers in 2026 is for political influence.
By acquiring The Telegraph, Döpfner confirms his intention to build a right-wing media bloc with global ambitions. Although nationalism and populism have always been closely linked, the deal promises greater international coordination.
The consequences are already making themselves felt. As Owen Jones has reported, Döpfner sent a letter to the paper’s staff outlining the core principles he intends to implement:
“1) We stand for freedom, freedom of expression, the rule of law, and democracy; 2) We support the right of Israel to exist and oppose all forms of antisemitism; 3) We advocate the transatlantic alliance between the United States and Europe; 4) We uphold the principles of a free-market economy; 5) We reject political and religious extremism, as well as all forms of discrimination.”
These contradictory points partly reflect the way that the German right is trying to merge its historic anti-Communist Cold War positions with global Trumpism.
Axel Springer’s publications have communicated a consistent ideological line since the 1950s. As Thomas Meaney once put it in The Guardian, the slant was “pro-US, pro-NATO, pro-Israel, pro-austerity, pro-capital, anti-Russia, anti-China”.
Although Donald Trump’s erratic foreign policy and preference for bullying over diplomacy have made it harder to maintain this line, Döpfner’s letter makes it clear that he embraces the challenge.
Last year, Döpfner wrote an article for Politico, telling readers that Trump wants a “strong Europe” and argued that the new era of American belligerence is probably for the best.
“This is the historic opportunity that Friedrich Merz could now negotiate with Donald Trump,” Döpfner wrote. “As Churchill said: Never waste a good crisis!”
In other words, Döpfner sees no contradiction between German neoliberalism and American nationalism.
Unsurprisingly, Döpfner is also an ardent supporter of Israel, coining the phrase “Zionismus über alles” (“Zionism above all”). The implication is clear: no misdeed by the Israeli government can be questioned, and every critic is morally suspect.
This sits very well with the terrible position on Israel that The Telegraph maintained before the purchase.
Under Max Hastings, the paper used to run critical coverage of Israeli policy. But those days are long gone. Now it supports Benjamin Netanyahu and consistently attacks Palestine solidarity campaigns as Antisemitic.
British journalists hoping that Axel Springer will improve The Telegraph’s editorial standards should think again.
Bild has been sanctioned many times by the German Press Council for breaching ethical standards, including in its coverage of Gaza.
Meanwhile, Die Welt published an op-ed by neo-fascist billionaire Elon Musk in 2024 calling on Germans to vote for the far-right Alternative für Deutschland.
Musk’s article naturally caused outrage in Germany and a huge row at the paper, with an editor resigning in protest.
While Axel Springer has publicly rejected the AfD and stressed that its values are not compatible with the party’s agenda, the company hasn’t repudiated Musk, who is on very good terms with Döpfner and attended his 60th birthday party.
We can expect The Telegraph to continue its habits from before the purchase: railing against the left whenever it can; attacking pro-Palestine demonstrators as Hamas apologists and Antisemites; and pushing culture war crusades and race-baiting coverage of crime to help get Nigel Farage into power.
The Telegraph can now take its place in an expanding right-wing populist news empire with Döpfner as its chieftain. The purchase may be the crucial next step in a bid to make Axel Springer as important in the Anglosphere as it is in Germany.
Photograph courtesy of Joel Schalit. All rights reserved.
