Old German media empire reboots for the digital age

Berlin

WHEN Mathias Doepfner, chief executive officer of Axel Springer, and a handful of his top managers first set their sights on the United States three years ago, it was with notebooks in hand, rather than chequebooks.

A decade after taking the helm in 2002, Mr Doepfner had already made significant strides in revamping Germany's largest print publishing group for the digital age. The combined online audience of its flagship newspapers, Bild and Die Welt, had become one of the largest in Europe, and the group was investing heavily in digital companies, which were generating an increasing share of revenues and profits.