Axel Springer To Buy 88% Stake In Business Insider For $343M

German digital publisher Axel Springer SE has agreed to buy an 88 percent stake in Business Insider, a New York-based online newspaper, as part of its move to expand its English-language offerings, according to a statement Tuesday.

Axel Springer will pay $343 million for the stake, and would consolidate the European firm’s hold over the company, adding that the publisher already owns 9 percent of the shares in Business Insider. Bezos Expeditions, a personal investment vehicle of Amazon owner Jeff Bezos, will hold the rest of the shares.

"The transaction is an essential component of Axel Springer’s strategy to grow with digital journalistic offerings in English-language geographies," Springer said, in the statement.

The Business Insider website, which currently receives 76 million unique views a month, was co-founded in 2007 by the company's current CEO Henry Blodget as an Internet-based business publication. It has seven additional editions outside the U.S., including ones in the U.K., Australia and Singapore.

The deal is subject to approval by antitrust authorities.