Over the past several months, Jonah Goldberg and Steve Hayes have secretly met with Axel Springer brass. The co-founders of The Dispatch, a conservative publication started in 2019, were exploring selling the digital outlet to the Mathias Döpfner-controlled publishing giant. The talks, first reported this week by Semafor, have cooled since, Status has learned. Still, its unclear whether a deal might ultimately be consummated in the future and Goldberg did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday evening.
In any event, the interest in an acquisition of the conservative publication offers a revealing window into the direction Döpfner appears eager to take the German media conglomerate. “They are obsessed with real power in America—and Republicans are in power,” an Axel Springer insider told Status of the company’s leadership, adding that…
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