Axel Springer, West Germany’s biggest press baron, once remarked that the idea that all people are equal was “the death of real freedom”.
In that case his media business – now a global media giant – has never been more alive or free. The company, which operates in 40 countries and owns Bild, Politico and Business Insider, has decided to pay a €125 million dividend to its shareholders.
The most visible shareholders of the German-based company are Friede Springer, widow of the publisher who died in 1985, and Mathias Döpfner, her permatanned anointed heir and chief executive.
Though they hold controlling shares, the largest Springer stake is now held by New York investment house KKR. With 35.6 per cent of the company, KKR can look forward to a €45.6 million windfall.
In Springer’s futuristic Berlin headquarters – designed by Rem Koolhaas and opened in 2019 at a cost of €300 million – the dividend news has gone down like a lead zeppelin.
Last year Mr Döpfner announced drastic redundancies and increased use of AI to cut costs.
[ German tabloid Bild cuts 200 staff and embraces AI as it accelerates ‘digital only’ strategy ]
For German Springer staff today, last year’s urgent savings target figure – €100 million annually – looks rather similar to the dividend announcement.
In the last four years, Springer has been squeezed for dividends of more than €750 million. The latest news prompted speculation in rival German media outlets that, by paying out such huge dividends, the company must be skimping on investment.
Springer responded quickly to deny this, insisting the generous dividends were in-keeping with company culture and its “digital only” strategy.
The other big winner of its dividend-only strategy is Döpfner, a 60-year-old friend of Elon Musk and assiduous collector of erotic paintings.
Last year he was forced into a public apology after leaked text messages indicated he supports Donald Trump and has a low opinion of East German-born ex-chancellor Angela Merkel. East Germans, he wrote to a friend, “are either communists or fascists”.
After he was called out by his own Bild editor, Döpfner apologised in the tabloid “for annoying or unsettling people with my words”. No apology is likely to be forthcoming for his 2022 dividend of at least €140 million.
