Axel Springer expands into Gulf media via Abu Dhabi entity
Axel Springer has completed a deal to acquire The Telegraph from RedBird IMI and is also investing in The Circuit, a regional digital publication, as it launches a new Abu Dhabi–headquartered Gulf media presence.
The move comes shortly after the publisher completed a deal to acquire The Telegraph newspaper from RedBird IMI.
Axel Springer is the latest media company to plant a flag in the Gulf, with a new entity headquartered in Abu Dhabi that is on the hunt for “ opportunities.” The move comes shortly after the publisher of Politico and Business Insider completed a deal to acquire The Telegraph newspaper from Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI; an investment in The Circuit, a regional digital publication, is also part of the expansion.
It’s hard not to notice the media scene is starting to feel a little crowded around these parts, from the launch of Fortune’s Gulf-focused newsletter to Middle East Currents, the relatively recent newsletter.
Still, it’s a tough business, sometimes in this region especially — Semafor has covered misadventures at the Dubai media startup Moniify and more recently government pressure on newswire photojournalists during the Iran war.
But a conviction we share is that the Gulf’s rise this century is among the most vital and compelling geoeconomic stories of our time (you appear to agree: Gulf has been Semafor’s fastest-growing briefing since Jan.
2025).
More scrutiny, more rigor, and a dose of competition are healthy.
A crowded media party is rarely a bad thing… right?