Mathias Döpfner -- making a rare public appearance in New York as the March Media Guru -- is Chairman and CEO of Axel Springer AG. The company is one of Europe’s leading and most successful media enterprises with an integrated offering of print, online and Web TV products (see Business Week article: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_34/b4097094901129.htm). It is also Germany’s largest newspaper and third-largest magazine publisher. Mr. Döpfner serves on the Board of Directors of Time Warner.
Axel Springer (web site: http://www.axelspringer.de/en/index.html) creates and distributes information and entertainment through newspapers, magazines and digital media services in 35 countries. The company is on the forefront of developing new business models for media properties. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal in early December, Mr. Döpfner said that, "The answer to the newspaper industry's online dilemma lies not in choking off news aggregators such as Google, but rather in developing flexible pay models and an infrastructure that makes it easier for users to pay for content.” Döpfner added that he envisioned a system that would include everything from traditional subscription models to micro payments for individual articles. According to the article, the company plans to build the pay models around the tabloid Bild franchise and Die Welt, a national broadsheet targeted at a more sophisticated audience.
Axel Springer’s media portfolio has over 170 newspapers and magazines, more than 60 online offerings for various different interest groups and information needs, as well as holdings in television and radio stations. The company employs more than 10,000 employees, generates revenues of more than USD 3 billion and had an EBITDA of well over USD 500 million in 2008.
Döpfner has been with Axel Springer AG since 1998, initially as Editor-in-Chief of Die Welt and since 2000 as Member of the Management Board. Before coming to Axel Springer, among other positions, Döpfner was Editor-in-Chief of the newspapers Wochenpost and Hamburger Morgenpost. At Gruner + Jahr, he was Assistant to the CEO in Hamburg and to the Head of International Business in Paris. He worked as a writer and Brussels-based correspondent for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a leading German business daily.
Döpfner studied Musicology, German and Theatrical Arts in Frankfurt and Boston. Döpfner is also on the Board of RHJ International SA and is a member of the Board of Deutsche Press-Agentur.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
- Location: The Harvard Club, 27 W. 44th Street (between 5th & 6th Avenues), NY
- Time: 7:30am Breakfast, 8:00am Program
- Cost: $25/Members; $55/Non-members & Guests; please register by 3pm on March 24th
- The Harvard Club maintains a dress code of business casual
- Organizers: Ava Seave ’82, Carla Graubard PMD-49, Margaret Downs ’85
Click here to make a reservation
