Politico and Axel Springer buy Brussels news service

Politico and German publisher Axel Springer are acquiring the website and weekly newspaper European Voice and rebranding it as the European edition of the political website.

The acquisition, announced on Wednesday, will be the used as the basis for a pan-European edition of Politico, the media start-up based in Washington DC that announced a tie-up with the German media group in September.

The joint venture will also acquire Development Institute International, a profitable conference business which was founded by the owner of European Voice.

Politico’s European edition will launch in spring 2015 with a website, a weekly newspaper circulated in Brussels and conferences in Brussels, Paris and Berlin.

It will also launch a European edition of Politico Pro, a subscription-based news service covering discrete policy areas such as financial services and health. The US version of Politico Pro has about 16,000 subscriptions, and generated a third of the US business’s revenues in 2014. Subscription fees to the service start at $7,500 a year.

Politico’s European edition will be edited by Matthew Kaminski, a member of the editorial board at the Wall Street Journal and a former journalist at the newspaper. He will move to Brussels to take up the position in 2015.

Jim VandeHei, executive editor and co-founder of Politico, said: “We’re going to make a heavy investment on both [business and editorial] sides with the hopes of being profitable in three or so years.”

Springer and Politico declined to disclose the purchase price of European Voice.

The German media company acquired a substantial war chest when it agreed the sale last year of regional newspapers and women’s and television magazines for €920m. Springer has used the cash to accelerate its shift away from print towards digital media, including increasing its stake in a digital classifieds joint venture.

The editorial board of Politico’s European edition will be chaired by John Harris, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Politico. Business decisions will be made jointly by Politico and Springer.

Asked about the differences between Politico’s approach to Washington and its new venture, Mr Harris said: “Washington is usually the main arena for the political and policy stories that we’re writing about. The European story is interesting to us because Brussels is one arena, but it’s not the exclusive arena.”

This means that Politico’s European edition will emphasise covering the debate about European issues in major capitals such as Berlin, Paris and London, Mr Harris said.