The European media conglomerate Axel Springer has completed its £575m takeover of the Telegraph, wrapping up three years of ownership drama that made a reality show look underproduced. The German company, which swooped in at the last minute to outbid the Daily Mail's owner, has now received all regulatory approvals in the UK, Ireland, and Austria to take full control of the 171-year-old newspaper group.

"Today is a day we have worked towards for a long time, and one we will always remember," said Mathias Döpfner, Axel Springer's CEO, who has been trying to buy the Telegraph since 2004, when the Barclay brothers beat him with a £665m offer. He also lost the Financial Times to Nikkei in 2015, so this acquisition is clearly a case of third time's the charm.

The Telegraph joins a stable that includes German tabloid Bild, broadsheet Die Welt, and digital outlets Politico and Business Insider. Döpfner plans to use his digital assets to push the Telegraph's transformation and expand into the US, with the stated goal of making it the "leading centre-right media outlet in the English-speaking world." He also promised to respect editorial independence, which is nice.

But not everyone is sticking around for the new voyage: Anna Jones, the chief executive of Telegraph Media Group, has departed, replaced by Carolin Hulshoff Pol, a Springer veteran who has been running Bild since 2004. Patrick Wehrmann steps in as group CFO, replacing interim Catherine Southgate.

The sale saga began in 2023 when the Barclay family lost control due to £1.16bn of unpaid debts to Lloyds bank. RedBird IMI, backed by UAE vice-president Sheikh Mansour, took over but was forced to sell after a UK law banned foreign state ownership of newspapers. A £500m bid from RedBird Capital fell through, and DMGT was close to a deal before Axel Springer swooped in with a £75m premium. Now, the Telegraph has new owners, and only time will tell if this marriage lasts longer than the previous one.