The German Owner of Politico Wants Another US Media Outlet

Mathias Döpfner shakes the rain from his jacket as he enters the Berlin headquarters of media titan Axel Springer SE, his 6-foot-7-inch silhouette reflected in the glass facade. The building is a 13-story cube with a soaring ceiling, the floors cascading down to form a kind of valley inside, each filled with desks from Springer’s dozen or so European and US titles. Journalists from the German tabloid Bild can see staff from Politico and Business Insider working above them; they in turn peer up at reporters from the Die Welt broadsheet. The building opened in 2020 at a cost of more than €300 million (about $350 million in today’s dollars)—pricey by Berlin standards—but, Döpfner gloats, the company had already booked a profit of more than €100 million by selling it to Norway’s sovereign wealth fund in 2017. The transaction hints at Döpfner’s relentless drive to prove skeptics wrong—in news or real estate—and make money doing it.

A white bull terrier and its owner precede Döpfner into the elevator; the office has 250 registered dogs, all vetted by canine “psychologists,” he says with a chuckle. He began allowing them in after an employee asked why pets weren’t welcome. “I was so shocked, as I am a dog lover,” Döpfner says, listing his three poodles and a Labrador: Plisch, Plum, Lara and Mira. Springer goes to great lengths to woo employees to the place, with free lunches (“from vegan to very unhealthy,” Döpfner says) and a verdant rooftop bar for after-work hangouts. Since this summer, four days a week in person has been a requirement, so showing up is also important to keep your job. Unless, of course, you’re chasing the news. “A reporter should be out where the story is, and a salesperson with the client,” he says.