BERLIN, June 9 (Reuters) - German media giant Axel Springer will establish a dedicated mergers-and-acquisitions team to look at firms specialising in artificial intelligence, CEO Matthias Doepfner said in an internal podcast to employees obtained by Reuters.
The M&A competence centre "needs to entirely focus on acquisitions - early-stage acquisitions or later-stage acquisitions in AI companies - that can be, for various reasons, important or attractive for Axel Springer," Doepfner said.
But the strategy could also turn up Axel Springer's next StepStone, he added.
If the market environment improves, Axel Springer aims to go public with StepStone, a popular online jobs portal, this year.
Doepfner said he is particularly interested in AI technology that seeks to disrupt Axel Springer's business models of advertising, e-commerce and journalism.
Persons:
Axel Springer, Matthias Doepfner, Doepfner, Axel Springer's, Klaus Lauer, Rachel More, Miranda Murray
Organizations:
Reuters, Thomson
Locations:
BERLIN