Mathias Döpfner

Mathias Döpfner    (editor, media mogul, billionaire)
Born	January 15, 1963
Nationality	German
Alma mater	Berklee College of Music
Member of	Arthur F. Burns Fellowship/Trustees, Aspen Institute Germany, Atlantik-Brücke, Blavatnik School of Government Staff and Advisory Council, Institute for Strategic Dialogue, The American Academy in Berlin, WEF/Global Leaders for Tomorrow/2001
CEO of mightiest media group in Germany and Europe, Axel Springer SE, member of the Bilderberg Steering Committee and other transatlantic networks, most notably Atlantik-Brücke. Became billionaire after receiving gift from elderly widow.  Axel Springer Publishing House/CEO In office 2002 - Present

Mathias Döpfner is Chief Executive Officer of largest media group in Germany and Europe, Axel Springer SE, and a member of the Bilderberg Steering Committee. He is a senior member of several other transatlantic networks.

After being gifted her stake in the business from Friede Springer, elderly widow of media tycoon Axel, Döpfner became a billionaire.

Döpfner once stated: "I am a non-Jewish Zionist", which is entirely in line with the Axel Springer corporate media philosophy, which in writing demands support for the United States and Israel.

Düzen Tekkal, Friede Springer, Mathias Döpfner, Kai Diekmann and Julian Reichelt on the roof of the US embassy in Berlin (2019)

Career

Döpfner began his career in 1982 as the music critic of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung supplement. After working as the FAZ correspondent in Brussels, Döpfner moved to Gruner + Jahr in 1992 – initially employed by board member Axel Ganz in Paris, later as assistant to the CEO Gerd Schulte-Hillen.

In April 1994, Döpfner became editor-in-chief of the Berlin weekly newspaper Wochenpost. In 1996 he took over the post of editor-in-chief of the Hamburg tabloid Hamburger Morgenpost.

In March 1998, Döpfner became editor-in-chief of Axel Springer SE's national daily newspaper Die Welt. Under his leadership, the content and visual appearance of the paper was fundamentally revised. On February 26, 2008, Axel Springer announced that the Welt Group had generated a profit for the first time.

Döpfner became a member of the management board of Axel Springer SE and head of the newspaper division in 2000. He became CEO in 2002. A defining characteristic of his leadership continues to be a rigorous focus on digital transformation. Since the start of his tenure as CEO, revenues from digital activities increased from €117m to €2.5bn.

In 2020, Friede Springer designated Döpfner as her successor as she gifted, sold and transferred the right to vote her stake in the business to him. Under the arrangement, she sold a 4.1% stake to Döpfner and gifted 15% more, bringing his direct stake to 22%. She also transferred voting rights her remaining 22% in the business.

Board Positions and Memberships

Mathias Döpfner was a member of the supervisory board of the pharmaceutical company Schering from 2001 to 2006. From July 2006 to June 2018 he was a member of the supervisory board of the US media group Time Warner, and from April 2015 to July he was a director of the Vodafone Group Public Limited Company. Since May 2014 he has been a member of the Board of Directors of Warner Music, since September 2018 a member of the Board of Directors of Netflix.

Since July 2016 Döpfner has been President of the Federal Association of German Newspaper Publishers (BDZV). His mandates in non-profit organizations include membership in the supervisory bodies of the European Publishers Council (EPC), the American Academy in Berlin, the Blavatnik School of Government in Oxford and the American Jewish Committee.

He was a member of the board of trustees of the Berlin Aspen Institute, he is also a regular participant of the Sun Valley Conference, the World Economic Forum in Davos, has been a participant since 2007 and has been a member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Conference since 2018. He is a member of the board of trustees of the International Journalists Program (IJP) e.V. and since 2018 Chairman of the TOA Open Circle.

Döpfner was also a member of the board of directors of Ripplewood Holdings (RHJI). In July 2009, independent media made a connection between Döpfner's commitment to the financial investor fighting for car maker Opel and the positive reports on this in some of the Springer Group's media. Döpfner's personal connections to RHJI and the Springer media coverage was not discussed..

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/2005	5 May 2005	8 May 2005	Germany Rottach-Egern	The 53rd Bilderberg, 132 guests
Bilderberg/2006	8 June 2006	11 June 2006	Canada Ottawa	54th Bilderberg, held in Canada. 133 guests
Bilderberg/2007	31 May 2007	3 June 2007	Turkey Istanbul	The 55th Bilderberg meeting, held in Turkey
Bilderberg/2014	29 May 2014	1 June 2014	Denmark Copenhagen Marriott Hotel
Bilderberg/2015	11 June 2015	14 June 2015	Austria Telfs-Buchen
Bilderberg/2016	9 June 2016	12 June 2016	Germany Dresden	The 2016 Bilderberg meeting took place in Dresden, Germany.
Bilderberg/2017	1 June 2017	4 June 2017	US Virginia Chantilly	The 65th Bilderberg Meeting
Bilderberg/2018	7 June 2018	10 June 2018	Italy Turin Hotel Torino Lingotto Congress	The 66th Bilderberg Meeting, in Turin, Italy, known for months in advance after an unprecedented leak by the Serbian government.
Bilderberg/2019	30 May 2019	2 June 2019	Switzerland Montreux Hotel Montreux Palace	The 67th Bilderberg Meeting