Axel Springer CEO pitched TikTok Europe buyout to Kushner

The latest:

Axel Springer chief executive Mathias Döpfner sought to carve out TikTok’s European operations and take a stake in them, pitching the plan to US ambassador to France Charles Kushner at a January gathering in Berlin, people familiar with the discussions told the Financial Times. The German group, owner of Politico and the Daily Telegraph, said it would have welcomed joining such a deal. ByteDance called the account a fabrication.

Details:

• The pitch: Three people familiar with the discussion said the talk at Axel Springer’s Berlin headquarters turned to Döpfner’s ambition to spin out the European arm of the Chinese-owned platform. The private event, in the company’s wood-panelled journalists’ club, had been billed as a discussion about antisemitism on social media.
• The model: People familiar with the meeting said Döpfner proposed something similar to the US spin-off brokered by President Donald Trump. That deal valued TikTok’s American business at $14bn and created a California-based joint venture with ByteDance, backed by investors including Larry Ellison’s Oracle, with greater control over algorithms and US user data.
• The guest: Charles Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, was invited to the January gathering. Other attendees included prominent Axel Springer journalists, a former president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany and several members of the Bundestag.
• The outcome: Brussels officials said the idea was raised with figures at the European Commission’s technology division, who were not enthusiastic, and it was dropped. ByteDance was also not keen on the proposal.
• The denials: ByteDance said the account was a total fabrication and not worth dignifying with a comment. Axel Springer said Döpfner has always advocated a European solution modelled on the American one, and would have welcomed the chance to take part as a major European media player. The US embassy in Paris declined to comment.
• His public line: Döpfner has called TikTok one of the most dangerous propaganda machines for amplifying extremist content, including hatred against Jewish people. He told German press agency DPA in early September that the app should either be sold to democratic shareholders or banned, and questioned why Europe was not acting as the Americans had.
• The reversal: Döpfner told DPA that without a solution soon, publishers would not be able to do without TikTok as a distribution channel. In recent weeks, Axel Springer’s German titles Bild and Welt have opened accounts on the platform for the first time.
• Trump ties: Döpfner met White House chief of staff Susie Wiles in February and last month presented an Axel Springer award to investor Peter Thiel, a Republican donor and backer of Vice-President JD Vance. The outreach continued after the White House denied access to Politico journalists last month over their reporting.
• Deal history: Döpfner bid unsuccessfully for the Financial Times in 2015, bought Business Insider two months later and Politico in 2021. He has said he would be interested in Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal if it were sold, and in 2022 privately urged Elon Musk to buy Twitter and let him run it.

Background:

Axel Springer, which Döpfner leads as chief executive and co-owner, bought the Daily Telegraph for £575mn earlier this year. Döpfner rose from editor-in-chief of Die Welt to run and then part-own the German publishing group.

Between the lines:

Döpfner has backed a European TikTok carve-out publicly since 2022 but never said he wanted to be among the investors. The route he chose — a US ambassador rather than European regulators — tracks the company’s wider courtship of the Trump administration, from the Wiles meeting to the Thiel award, at the same time its German titles quietly joined the platform he calls a propaganda machine.

What’s next

Whether the European Commission revisits any ownership carve-out for TikTok in Europe, and whether Axel Springer expands its newly opened Bild and Welt accounts on the platform.