BERLIN: Germany’s media group Axel Springer has announced to merge with the television group ProSiebenSAT1.
According to Bloomberg News, discussions were at an early stage and any transaction could face anti-trust hurdles. Neither group was willing to comment on the information, it added.
ProSiebenSat.1 has a market value of 9.7 billion euros ($10.7 billion), while Axel Springer is valued at 4.7 billion euros. In 2005, Axel Springer, whose publications include the mass-circulation daily Bild and the conservative broadsheet Die Welt, had wanted buy ProSiebenSAT1 in order to build a counterweight to rival Bertelsmann, which owns the RTL television group as well as the Gruner & Jahr publishing house.
