German publisher Axel Springer acquires 'Business Insider'

Axel Springer, German publishing company, said Tuesday it has acquired a controlling interest in Business Insider in a deal that values the online business news site at $390 million.

Axel Springer, which already owned 9% of Business Insider, said it agreed to pay $343 million for another 88%. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' investment firm retains the remaining 3%.

Business Insider founder Henry Blodget, a former Wall Street analyst, will remain CEO and editor in chief of the 8-year-old site, which draws about 76 million unique monthly visitors with its mix of business news, market commentary, enterprise stories and graphics-driven, reader-friendly news nuggets. “We have tremendous respect for Axel Springer's commitment to independent journalism and its global vision for the future," Blodget said in a statement.

Rieder: 'Business Insider' goes long on journalism

In a conference call, Axel Springer said the $390 million valuation for Business Insider is about six times the anticipated revenue for 2016. It surpasses another notable acquisition of a digital-native media company — AOL's $315 million purchase of TheHuffington Post in 2011. While other online publishers, such as BuzzFeed and Vox Media, have been valued at higher prices, their shares are still largely held by early investors and executives.

The valuation underscores the premium that media companies are placing on securing a broad digital audience. Business Insider publishes a variety of news ranging from items targeted at Millennials through social media to hard news aimed at investors, but it does not publish any print publications. It has expanded internationally in recent years by launching editions in the United Kingdom, Australia, India, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.

The company also has plans to broaden its coverage through topic-oriented sites. Earlier this year, it launched Tech Insider, a technology news site. Business Insider also sells a subscription-based research and information service, known as BI Intelligence.

In 2013, Business Insider — which has more than 325 employees, about half of whom are journalists — generated about $20 million in revenue. But it grew 70% last year, tech news site Recode recently reported.

Report: Axel Springer in talks to buy Business Insider for $560M

Axel Springer, which also owns German national newspapers Die Welt and Bild, is eager to expand its presence beyond Europe to attract readers to its English-language sites. Axel Springer had been in talks to acquire United Kingdom newspaper Financial Times before its parent company, Pearson, sold it this summer to Japanese media group Nikkei for $1.3 billion.

With the acquisition of Business Insider, Axel Springer said its worldwide digital audience will grow by two-thirds to about 200 million users. And Business Insider plans to introduce later this year a German edition that will be operated by finanzen.net, an Axel Springer division.

“We continue with our strategy to expand Axel Springer’s digital reach and, as previously announced, invest in digital journalism companies in English-speaking regions of the world," Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer, said in a statement.

USA Today Thinks We Should Sell Business Insider!

Döpfner led Axel Springer’s earlier investment in Business Insider that was completed in January. And the company followed with a partnership with Politico to expand the political news site’s European operations. Axel Springer also owns a stake in online publication Ozy. USA TODAY is a content partner of Ozy.

Axel Springer said it plans to finance the deal through existing credit.

Kenneth Lerer, co-founder of TheHuffington Post and chairman of BuzzFeed, will become a member of Business Insider's board of directors.

Follow USA TODAY reporters Nathan Bomey and Roger Yu on Twitter @NathanBomey, @RogerYu_