Axel Springer bets $ 343M on ‘ Business Insider’

Axel Springer, the German publishing company, said Tuesday it has acquired a controlling interest in Business Insider in a deal that values the online business news site at $ 390 million.

Axel Springer, which already owned 9% of Business Insider, said it agreed to pay $ 343 million for another 88%. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ investment firm retains the remaining 3%.

Business Insider founder Henry Blodget, a former Wall Street analyst, will remain CEO and editor in chief of the 8- year- old site, which draws about 76 million unique monthly visitors with its mix of business news, market commentary, enterprise stories and graphics- driven, readerfriendly news nuggets.

“We have tremendous respect for Axel Springer’s commitment to independent journalism and its global vision for the future,” Blodget said in a statement.

In a conference call, Axel Springer said the $ 390 million valuation for Business Insider is about six times the anticipated revenue for 2016. It surpasses another notable acquisition of a digital- native media company — AOL’s $ 315 million purchase of

The Huffington Post in 2011. While other online publishers, such as Buzz-Feed and Vox Media, have been valued at higher prices, their shares are still largely held by early investors and executives.

The valuation underscores the premium media companies are placing on securing a broad digital audience. Business Insider publishes a variety of news ranging from items targeted at Millennials through social media to hard news aimed at investors, but it does not publish any print publications. It has expanded internationally in recent years by launching editions in the United Kingdom, Australia, India, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.

The company also has plans to broaden its coverage through topic- oriented sites. Earlier this year, it launched Tech Insider, a tech- nology news site. Business Insider also sells a subscription- based research and information service, known as BI Intelligence.

In 2013, Business Insider — which has more than 325 employees, about half of whom are journalists — generated about $ 20 million in revenue. But it grew 70% last year, tech news site Recode recently reported. With the acquisition of Busi

ness Insider, Axel Springer said its worldwide digital audience will grow by two- thirds to about 200 million users.