Mathias Döpfner The media mogul is a dying species

Your 60th birthday was only recently. Mathias Döpfner: That at 60 must be a misunderstanding! I've only just started, in response to the question, "60, what does that do to you," that some modern TV journalists might pose.

I still have the impression that I am undergoing professional training and am constantly learning new things. Axel Springer can now move into its most advantageous phase.

As I see it, accelerated change is necessary for accelerated growth. You previously worked as a music critic.

Döpfner: A textless techno track, that's the name of the song that best captures how you're feeling right now. Written by Marcel Dettmann, "Transit 0.2.".

Over the past few years, there must have been a lot of things that worried you. The controversy surrounding former "Bild" editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt, leaked information from you to the press, a staffing shortage, and a discussion of your doctoral thesis are just a few examples.

The thing that bothered you the most was Döpfner: Larmoyanz would not be proper. Numerous issues have been examined, and we have drawn conclusions from them.

Let's take a look at what lies in the future now. Do you now accept any responsibility for your actions in relation to the Reichelt scandal involving claims of power abuse? Döpfner: Of course.

Regarding the cultural evolution at "Bild," we have learned a lot and changed significantly. Otherwise, I would only be able to reiterate what we have already said several times.

Furthermore, I no longer desire that. After two years, it is still legitimate, and we are done with it.

And how about the 2022 fiscal year? Döpfner: It was a phenomenally successful year for us, one of the most successful in the history of the company. After 2021, we experienced organic sales growth in the double digits for the second consecutive year.

That hasn't existed for the business in forty years. In total, we generated sales of about 3point 9 billion euros in 2022, resulting in a roughly 750 million dollar profit.

That exceeds the amount we had originally budgeted for. The fact that we were able to accomplish this in the midst of a war, an inflationary crisis, and an energy crisis speaks volumes about the dedication of our staff, for whom I would like to express my sincere gratitude.

If you think back twenty years, we were a German company that was solely engaged in analog operations at the time, and we had a 200 million dollar loss. We currently have a reach that places us as the fourth-largest publisher in the US.

In the previous 15 months, 400 journalists were hired there. More than two billion dollars are made through journalism worldwide, with foreign sales accounting for half of that amount.

With sales of more than a billion euros, which is double what they were two years ago, Stepstone, the leader of the portfolio in the Digital Classifieds, had its best year ever. Overall, despite all of the issues, we are very pleased with the 2022 fiscal year.

Years ago, Springer quit trading on the stock market. You are currently preparing an IPO for a portion of your portfolio with the online job marketplace Stepstone.

What is the situation now? Döpfner: Stepstone has been diligently preparing for an IPO lately. The right timing and a favorable overall environment, however, are always important factors in IPOs.

An IPO is currently possible given the state of the markets, but it would be a waste of money. Although we are prepared, we are not in a rush.

Then, we'll see exactly what an IPO looks like and how much stock we're bringing to the market. Are you considering an IPO in any other sectors as well? Döpfner: We could envision the Stepstone model for Aviv, that is, not just for the job exchange but also for the real estate market.

I wouldn't rule it out for any other departments within the business that are not in the publishing division. However, there are no firm plans in place.

For more than 20 years, you have served as Springer's CEO. Döpfner: Twenty years ago, when I took over as CEO, I set three strategic areas for my work. How do you see your own balance sheet?.

The digitalization of our company is first and foremost a strategic necessity. The second strategic objective is to develop paid keyword content as a business model for quality journalism that is also profitable online.

Thirdly, we have the long-term strategic goal of growing our company into the USA, the largest media market in the world. In each of the three areas, we have already made significant progress.

The publishing house has undergone a significant digital transformation. Our digital business accounts for more than 85% of our sales and more than 95% of our profits.

Nearly 400 million different users visit us each month. The publisher has demonstrated that in the age of digital media, excellent journalism can also be a viable business model.

Our digital business now accounts for more than a million of the two thirds of our subscriptions worldwide. Together with "Insider," "Politico," and "Morning Brew," we rank fourth in the US.

We now employ 3,400 journalists in total, with the USA accounting for a growing portion of that number. That number of journalists is greater than that of the BBC and News Corporation and is twice as many as those of The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal.

The past year was the most prosperous in our history in terms of journalism. With their reporting on the conflict in Ukraine, WELT, "Bild," Insider, and others have received numerous awards and set new standards. Insider was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

And "Politico" landed one of the biggest scoops in the history of American journalism with the unveiling of the planned court decision on abortion rights, according to leading media such as CNN, "New York Times" and "Washington Post". This entire list serves as a solid foundation.

Question: Where will Springer be in five years? Döpfner: For the next five years, I wish that the publishing house is making further progress in all three fields. We want to keep growing in the USA.

You can go from 4th to 3rd, from 3 to 2nd, maybe even one day from 2nd to 1st. It's not impossible.

Paid content will play an even more important role. "Politico" will expand in the US and also in Europe and can become a truly international brand.

With "Insider" we are already in 19 different countries. Perhaps we will also buy new journalistic offers.

And start your own business. Question: When “Politico”, the largest company takeover in the company’s history, took place in 2021, people in this country asked themselves: Will it be the product, i.

e. a digital media brand specializing in politics with a newsletter subscription model for a particularly interested and educated audience? also give here in Germany? Döpfner: That's conceivable, yes.

“Politico” immediately announced expansion in the USA to California and New York. In Europe, Brussels will be followed first by London and Paris.

Question: What do you still want to achieve in the next five years? Döpfner: My goal is to complete the digital transformation and turn Axel Springer into a purely digital company. First it was Digital Too – i.

e. digital as well as print.

Then came Digital First. Eventually Digital Only will come.

Question: That would mean: In 2028 there will no longer be a printed “Bild” newspaper. Döpfner: I don't know when.

But it is absolutely clear that one day there will no longer be a printed “Bild” newspaper, no printed WELT and no printed newspaper at all at Axel Springer. Except maybe special editions.

In any case, we want to continue to proactively shape the digital transformation. Just like over the last 20 years.

The best is ahead of us: journalism in its digital form will be qualitatively better and economically more attractive than ever before. Question: Who is your main competitor internationally? Döpfner: Our competition is divided into three groups.

There are the so-called legacy publishers. These are the big traditional houses.

Of these, only very few, very large international super brands such as “FT”, “Wall Street Journal” or “New York Times” will remain in the next 10 or 20 years. This is not our primary competitive picture.

The second group are the tech platforms, which actually have a different business model. But they intervene massively in our business models, by marketing our journalistic content using extremely smart advertising models without having to invest in the production costs.

Market power and capital reserves are almost limitless. It would be delusional to compare yourself to platforms.

But they are a competitive threat. And thirdly: The digital native publishers are new media companies such as Axios, Puck, Semafor, Punchbowl, Athletic and Vox media.

Digital start-ups for young target groups are actually my real competition pictures. The most dangerous are the competitors that we don't even know today.

Believe me, the days of the old media moguls are over. Recently it was said: "Döpfner, the new media mogul" - for me that is almost an insult.

If there's one thing I've never been and never wanted to be, it's a media mogul. This is an endangered species.

I see the start-ups - these are the competitors that really interest me. Question: Do you want to relocate the company headquarters from Berlin to America? Döpfner: If you ask someone in America, in Washington, New York or Los Angeles about Axel Springer, they are first and foremost interested in "Politico", followed by "Insider" and "Morning Brew".

Then it's still: Oh, they still have something in Berlin and Warsaw, and what is "image" actually? In the next few years, the growth engine of Axel Springer's media business will be much more concentrated in America than in Germany or other European markets. That there will then be something like a second location – that comes naturally.

That the legal location will formally be relocated from Berlin to America – I think that is unlikely. Axel Springer is a transatlantic media company.

Question: Springer wanted to accelerate its own growth by bringing US financial investor Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) on board in 2019. When will KKR retire? Döpfner: When they got on board, they told us that they had a time horizon of at least five years, more like seven, maybe ten.

But that's not an issue at all at the moment. We are extremely satisfied with the cooperation with KKR.

Question: To what extent is your company weakened by crises such as the Ukraine war, inflation and energy? Döpfner: The sequence and the simultaneity of crises such as pandemics, war, energy crisis, Inflation and then a doubling of paper prices - that's something special and acts as an accelerator of structural digital change. This can also create opportunities for us because we are well prepared.

Individual macroeconomic aspects have even had a positive effect: digital subscription models have received an enormous boost in recent years. The shortage of skilled workers was very beneficial for Stepstone and its job exchange business model, as was the e-commerce boom of the pandemic for the Idealo platform.

At the same time, however, paper prices have left their mark on the remaining print business, as has the structural decline in print advertising. In order to meet the challenges, we have also created new, entrepreneurially independent structures at “Bild” and WELT.

More entrepreneurship. We must ensure that each business is and remains financially sound on its own.

Question: So there will be layoffs at the national media brands "Bild" and WELT? Döpfner: Definitely a redeployment of personnel. In one place it is less, in the other more.

This also means separations of employees. Question: Are there already orders of magnitude and a point in time? Döpfner: No.

Question: Do you think you could part with the “Bild” brand? Döpfner: No, I can't imagine that. "Image" is part of Axel Springer's DNA.

It's all about the question of how "image" develops further. The projects that are now available on short-form moving images, social media strategy, Web 3 and young target groups are very encouraging for me.

Question: You have just more or less closed the young television channel Bild TV. Döpfner: TV is a different picture now.

Let's see where Bild TV is in five years. In retrospect, this highly ambitious news channel concept was not the right idea.

I am a big supporter of ambitious ideas. But it also takes the necessary self-reflection to quickly correct the course if an idea develops in the wrong direction.

Question: In Germany, despite the American business, Springer is still very strongly associated with the “Bild” brand. If you look at the group, this no longer corresponds to the real key figures.

What is your strategy for "Bild"? Döpfner: We never contradict this narrow perception because we are incredibly proud of "Bild" and think that “Bild” is not the overall reach leader in Germany and the largest mass media brand in Europe for nothing. "Bild" is also the most cited media brand in Germany.

Incidentally, this also casts an ambivalent light on the “Bild” criticism from our dear colleagues. Either "image" is "trash".

Then that would mean that German quality media prefer to quote "trash". Which is hard for me to imagine.

Or “image” is simply relevant in journalistic terms. Only one of the two can be right.

We believe that "Bild" has a great future. But Axel Springer has long been much more than “picture”.

That's why we innovate everywhere. America is a top priority.

But we also want to try a lot in Europe and Germany. And technology will play a big part in that.

Artificial intelligence can already support journalism today. Open AI features like ChatGPT hint at what's possible.

A culture-pessimistic attitude would be foolish. Question: What exactly do you have in mind? Döpfner: I'm interested in where this technology can help us to make journalism better, help us so that people can focus even better on what machines won't be able to do better in the foreseeable future.

In journalism that is: going out, observing reality, finding out things that shouldn't come out, investigative journalism, reportage journalism, analyses, opinions. But with everything that has a quantitative focus and involves very large amounts of knowledge and data, artificial intelligence already has an advantage today.

Perhaps there will soon be the first editor-in-chief as an avatar in the Metaverse. Question: What else is conceivable? Döpfner: A second field is short-form video.

We have to find ways to win over young target groups for our products with short, playfully staged forms. Another area of ​​development are podcasts.

I see a lot of potential for us there. And finally, the question arises: what does blockchain do with media? Maybe new forms of participation, of authentication.

Question: There will be a new co-editor-in-chief at “Bild”: “Focus” editor-in-chief Robert Schneider. When does he come? Döpfner: We are really looking forward to him.

We don't yet know exactly when he will come, because Burda must first decide on his successor. Question: Everything about the personnel looked a bit unhappy again.

German media reported on a drug test that Springer was demanding. Did he now have to give one up and did Reichelt successor and “Bild” editor-in-chief Johannes Boie also have to make one? How did this whole staff debate come about? Döpfner: "Bild" criticizes a lot and loudly and therefore always has to endure a lot of criticism.

The fact that, like many other internationally active companies, we also define certain recruitment requirements for certain management positions - this can then also include a drug test - that's one thing. But the way it was publicly addressed was quite an unprecedented assault on the individual's personality.

But we remain undauntedly cheerful. Question: Drug testing, has this been practice for a long time or is it a new development in this House? Döpfner: This is a new development that is becoming increasingly common internationally.

Question: Has there ever been a moment when you thought about retiring from active management? Döpfner: No, there wasn't. I still have a lot to do.

And "Politico" landed one of the biggest scoops in the history of American journalism with the unveiling of the planned court decision on abortion rights, according to leading media such as CNN, "New York Times" and "Washington Post".