By Aditya Tejas -
German digital publisher Axel Springer SE has agreed to buy an 88 percent stake in Business Insider, a New York-based online newspaper, as part of its move to expand its English language offerings, according to a statement Tuesday.
Axel Springer will pay $343 million for the stake, and would consolidate the European firm’s hold over the company, adding that the publisher already owns 9 percent of the shares in Business Insider. Bezos Expeditions, a personal investment vehicle of Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) owner Jeff Bezos, will hold the rest of the shares.
"The transaction is an essential component of Axel Springer’s strategy to grow with digital journalistic offerings in English-language geographies," Springer said, in the statement.
The Business Insider website, which currently receives 76 million unique views a month, was co-founded in 2007 by the company's current CEO Henry Blodget as an Internet-based business publication. It has seven additional editions outside the U.S., including ones in the U.K., Australia and Singapore.
The deal is subject to approval by antitrust authorities.