Axel Springer Pays £575m to Put Germans in Charge of the Telegraph

The 171-year-old British newspaper group changed hands on 30 June 2026, ending three years of ownership chaos that ran from a Abu Dhabi-backed holding company to a parliamentary intervention to a German buyer.

Axel Springer completed its £575 million acquisition of the Telegraph titles on 30 June 2026.
The deal closes a period of uncertainty that began in 2023 when RedBird IMI, backed by Abu Dhabi interests, attempted to take control.
UK government legislation blocked that bid on public-interest grounds, leading to a fresh sale process.
The Telegraph portfolio includes the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, and The Spectator had previously been separated out.
Axel Springer already owns Politico Europe and Business Insider, giving it a substantial English-language news footprint.

Axel Springer, the Berlin-based media group, completed its £575 million takeover of the Telegraph titles on 30 June 2026, according to reporting by The Guardian. The deal ends a three-year ownership saga that involved a blocked Abu Dhabi-linked bid, emergency parliamentary legislation, and a court-supervised sale process.

The Telegraph — founded in 1855 — is now controlled from Germany. Axel Springer's English-language portfolio already includes Politico Europe and Business Insider; the Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph add a combined print and digital readership that skews considerably older and more conservative than either of those properties.

The Spectator was not part of the transaction, having been sold separately during the same forced-disposal period.

RedBird IMI, the vehicle through which Abu Dhabi interests first moved on the titles in late 2023, was legislated out of the picture after cross-party concern in Westminster about foreign state influence over a national newspaper. The subsequent open process produced Axel Springer as the successful bidder at £575 million.

The Telegraph's editorial line has been robustly Conservative for the better part of its 171 years. Its new owner publishes Politico.