Axel Springer's Döpfner pitched a stake in TikTok's European business to a Trump ambassador

The proposal to the US ambassador

The Financial Times reports that Mathias Döpfner, chief executive and co-owner of Axel Springer, proposed that his company take part in a deal to buy the European business of TikTok. According to the paper's sources, he made the pitch to Charles Kushner, the US ambassador to France and father of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump. The conversation took place in January at a private event at Axel Springer's Berlin headquarters, where the group's journalists' club hosted a discussion of antisemitism on social platforms. Guests included prominent journalists from the group, a former president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany and members of the Bundestag. Three people familiar with the contacts told the paper that Döpfner set out his ambition to split off TikTok's European arm, with Axel Springer joining the investor group. The group owns Politico and The Telegraph, and its German titles include Bild and Die Welt.

The American template

Döpfner used the American arrangement as his model. ByteDance agreed in January to form a joint venture with majority US ownership, a step meant to avert a ban on the app in the United States, where more than 200 million Americans use it, and to ease security concerns among US politicians about its Chinese owner. Oracle and the UAE state fund MGX are now part of the investor group. The FT says that deal valued TikTok's US operations at $14 billion. The California-based company that resulted gained more control over the algorithms and data of American users, and the arrangement was reached with Trump's mediation.

Stalled plan and reactions

The proposal did not advance, according to the FT's sources. People in Brussels told the paper it met no enthusiasm at the European Commission. ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent, was also negative and described the report as a complete fabrication. Döpfner has repeatedly attacked TikTok, calling it one of the most dangerous propaganda machines for spreading extremist content, including hatred of Jews. Since 2022 he has publicly argued for changing the platform's ownership, but he had not disclosed that he wanted Axel Springer to take part himself.

The Musk precedent

Court filings published in lawsuits, reported by Der Spiegel, show that Döpfner has repeatedly offered Elon Musk help with a social network. Döpfner wrote to Musk in 2022, before and after the Twitter purchase, offering to have Axel Springer manage the platform. In one message he wrote:

We manage it for you. And build a true platform for free expression.

Musk's first reply was that it was an interesting idea, and Döpfner pressed that the platform be censorship-free, blocking only spam, incitement to violence and illegal pornography. Axel Springer never took an active stake in Twitter, which Musk later renamed X.