The Daily Telegraph was founded in 1855 and, as a conservative paper, is strongly associated with the British establishment and the Tory Party. But the newspaper has been for sale for three years after the previous owner was forced to hand the company to his bank because of large debts.
The owners of the rival Daily Mail made a bid of 500 million in November, but the deal fell through after the British Competition Authority announced it would launch an investigation, Bloomberg reports.
Axel Springer, based in Berlin, owns the German newspapers Bild and Die Welt as well as the websites Business Insider and Politico.
