Under CEO Mathias Doepfner, Axel Springer has been increasingly investing in online operations. It formed a partnership that launched the European version of Politico.com, a Washington-based political website, and last year it invested in Silicon Valley-based Web magazine Ozy. In 2014, it also acquired a 20 percent stake in French search engine Qwant and in 2013 it launched the paid-for online version of Bild, Germany’s largest newspaper.