Later this week in Berlin, the German publishing giant Axel Springer—which owns POLITICO and Business Insider in the U.S.—will honor pro-MAGA technology billionaire Peter Thiel. In announcing over the summer that Thiel would receive the 2026 Axel Springer Award, chief executive Mathias Döpfner lauded the PayPal and Palantir co-founder as "one of the rare entrepreneurs" who "reminds us that progress requires courage and nonconformism.”
“Nonconformism” is an interesting word choice to describe a man who holds a number of polarizing political views. But in addition to being a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, he has also established himself as a notable adversary of the press—making it especially odd that Axel Springer would opt to fete him at a glitzy event. Indeed, Thiel not only financed the Hulk Hogan lawsuit that ultimately sent Gawker into bankruptcy, but has maintained a notoriously hostile relationship with the press. Most recently, he backed a startup that uses A.I. to generate bias rankings of news organizations and individual reporters.
Thiel’s history has generated significant backlash among Axel Springer's own employees over the decision to honor him. Indeed, it is fair to wonder why Axel Springer—a company which professes to be committed to press freedom—would willfully choose to champion a powerful billionaire whose resume is tarred by an ugly relationship with the press. Making matters worse is the timing of the event. Trump last week banned POLITICO from the White House grounds, and now the outlet’s parent company is set to honor one of the president’s top Silicon Valley supporters.
Of course, while Axel Springer’s corporate leadership can honor whomever they wish, its employees have the ability to object. To that end, Status has learned that staffers at POLITICO and Business Insider are now moving to…
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CNN chief Mark Thompson. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Discovery)
Status Scoop | Thompson Talks to His Troops: A day after David Ellison settled Paramount's antitrust lawsuit with 12 state attorneys general, clearing the way for his acquisition of CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, network boss Mark Thompson sought to reassure some of his troops about what the future will entail. I'm told that in various conversations on Tuesday, Thompson made clear that as long as he is leading the network, he will protect CNN's editorial independence and serve as a firewall against any possible corporate meddling. That said, it's still unclear whether Thompson will continue leading CNN under Ellison's ownership.
I'm told that Ellison…
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