Axel Springer buys Business Insider

Started Henry Blodget, Kevin Ryan and Dwight Merriman, the publication targets 18 to 34-year-olds.

“The transaction is an essential component of Axel Springer’s strategy to grow with digital journalistic offerings in English-language geographies”, Springer said in its statement.

According to Crunchbase, since its its launch in 2007, Business Insider has raised over $55.6M in 7 rounds of funding.

“It really is a pivotal point in the changing of the media landscape”, Axel Springer CEO Mathias Doepfner said on Tuesday. He added: “Our hope is that we will be around for a very long time”.

BI founder and CEO Henry Blodget and president and COO Julie Hansen will continue to run the company under Axel Springer’s ownership and will receive “extensive” long-term equity incentives, the company said.

Mr Blodget, 49, praised the Germany company as a “forward-thinking team”.

This acquisition is a major step forward for all involved. The deal values Business Insider at $442 million, nearly $200 million more than what The Washington Postsold for in 2013 and well above the $315 million AOL paid to acquire The Huffington Post in 2011. It has built a reputation on critical and exclusive reporting that aligns well with how news is consumed on social and mobile channels. Apart from news and exclusive reports, it also offers a subscription-based research reports branded as BI Intelligence. A former analyst, he agreed to a ban from Wall Street after an investigation into civil fraud allegations by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2003.

Business Insider employs around 325 people, and approximately 50pc of those are journalists.

Axel Springer shares were down 2 percent in afternoon trading in Frankfurt, underperforming the STOXX Europe 600 Media index which was down 1.2 percent. Editions for other countries are in development.

Axel Springer said it made the deal for strategic reasons.

The acquisition will be financed by Axel Springer’s existing credit lines, and is subject to regulatory approval.

Earlier this month, Manager Magazine reported that Axel Springer was looking to buy a controlling stake in Business Insider. Doepfner called the purchase Springer’s biggest step into the English-speaking world. A pin code is not required.