On Thursday, at Axel Springer's headquarters in Berlin, the publishing giant's chief executive, Mathias Döpfner, stood onstage before an assembled audience gathered to celebrate the pro-MAGA billionaire Peter Thiel. The decision by Axel Springer—the German owner of U.S. outlets POLITICO and Business Insider—to bestow its namesake award on the PayPal and Palantir co-founder, who has a notoriously adversarial relationship with the press, had generated significant backlash within Döpfner's own company. As Status exclusively reported, more than 120 staffers at POLITICO and Business Insider had written to Döpfner earlier in the week, objecting to the move.
Until Thursday, Döpfner had not publicly addressed the criticism he was facing, both internally and externally. At the event—dressed in his trademark trim-cut navy blue suit, sans tie, with a Rolex Daytona adorning his wrist—Döpfner finally offered his first public response. But instead of earnestly addressing the concerns…
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