Robert Allbritton, the current owner of Politico, has allegedly sold the 15-year-old digital media company covering politics and policy for, according to media speculations, more than$1 billion to German publishing giant Axel Springer, Business Wire reports.
According to a source familiar with the terms, the deal that is subject to regulatory approval and whose closing is expected in the fourth quarter of this year, part of the buying agreement are also the remaining 50% share of its current joint venture, Politico Europe, as well as the tech news website Protocol.
With Politico that now employs more than 700 people in the US and Europe, Axel Springer, whose portfolio already include Insider and Morning Brew, made a further reach into the US market in its efforts to spread its influence and footprint across the Washington DC and the international media landscape.
Only last year the company acquired E&E News, a niche political outlet covering energy and the environment while Axios reported earlier this month of some Politico staffers that at have been mulling the idea of unionization.
The news come after Nextstar Media Group announced last week that it was acquiring The Hill, another politics and policy publication, for $130 million and the Buzzfeed’s merger with a SPAC and purchase of Complex Networks, consolidating the US digital media space marked by acquisitions.
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