German publisher Axel Springer has extended its U.S. digital push by entering into an agreement to acquire digital market research company eMarketer.
Axel Springer will pay a reported €213 million (about $242 million) for a 93 percent stake in the New York-based digital media company.
Berlin-headquartered Axel Springer SE is the largest publishing house in Europe. The company, which owns German National daily newspaper Die Welt, Polish tabloid Fakt and German tabloid Bild — the highest-circulation newspaper in Europe — staffs more than 15,000. Founded in 1946, Axel Springer in 2015 accounted for revenues of about €3.3 billion.
Axel Springer’s eMarketer acquisition accounts for only the latest inroad that company has made in the U.S. media market. The company in September purchased an 88 percent stake in financial news site Business Insider and also has a majority stake in Chicago-based mobile shopping platform Retale, as well as investments in online lodging marketplace Airbnb, virtual-reality platform Jaunt, news platform Mic.com and lifestyle portal Thrillist.com.
Axel Springer last year made an unsuccessful bid for London daily the Financial Times. That publication was sold in July to Japanese book and magazine publisher Nikkei for £844m.
eMarketer provides analysis and reports on news and trends in the digital marketing, media and commerce industries. The company, which was founded in 1996, publishes its “eDaily” email newsletter, which boasts a circulation of about 120,000. eMarketer in 2015 accounted for $45.5 million in revenues. About 81 percent of those revenues last year came from subscriptions.
In light of the acquisition, eMarketer co-founders Terry Chabrowe and Geoff Ramsey will maintain a seven-percent stake in the company. They will keep their respective chief executive officer and chief innovation officer titles.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is being bought by the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, a nonprofit that is the parent organization of the Baltimore Banner... The British Broadcasting Corporation is axing approximately 2,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its work force... Snap, the company behind Snapchat, is also succumbing to layoff fever, announcing plans to lay off 16 percent of its employees, about 1,000 people.
CBS News Radio will go off the air on May 22, part of the axe-swinging managerial plan put into play by CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss... The Economist, which was first published in 1843, is changing hands. Canadian billionaire Stephen Smith has agreed to acquire a 26.9 percent stake in the publication from Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, her family and family foundation... Nexstar Media Group says it has closed its acquisition of TEGNA, the broadcast, digital media and marketing services company that was formed in 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publicly traded companies.
USA TODAY brings on Jamie Stockwell as VP of news, effective March 30. Stockwell was most recently deputy managing editor of news for the Washington Post... YouTube expands its likeness detection capabilities to a pilot group of government officials, journalists and political candidates... The AP Fund for Journalism adds 50 news organizations to its local news program, bringing the total number of participating newsrooms to 100. 
Versant Media Group, the NBCUniversal cable TV spin-off, today reported its first financial results as 2025 revenues dipped 5.3 percent to $6.7B and standalone EBITDA dropped 9.1 percent to $2.2B.
Trump Media & Technology Group is discussing a spin-off of the Truth Social platform following the expected closing of its $6B merger deal with TAE Technologies... Condé Nast sells off Them, the digital LGBTQ-focused platform it launched in 2017, to Equalpride, publisher of Out, The Advocate, Out Traveler, Health PLUS Wellness and Pride.com... CBS News has parted ways with longevity influencer Peter Attia, one of the 19 contributors that editor-in-chief Bari Weiss brought on as part of her plan to present a wider variety of voices on the platform. 
