The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
Media Publishing activities Publishing of books, newspapers and other publishing activities, except software publishing 58.1 - Publishing of books, newspapers and other publishing activities, except software publishing
230 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
4 May 2025
Employment effect (start)
4 May 2025
Foreseen end date
15 June 2025
Description
Axel Springer, the Berlin-based media conglomerate, has announced significant job cuts as part of a broader restructuring strategy aimed at improving efficiency and adapting to digital transformation.
In Germany, the company plans to cut 130 positions in its corporate holding division through a voluntary redundancy programme agreed with the works council, running until mid-July, to avoid compulsory layoffs. The cuts in Germany exclude editorial teams in the holding, which remains focused on finance and management functions.
In parallel, Axel Springer’s digital media brand Business Insider will lay off 21% of its workforce across all departments. The move will affect about 100 jobs in the United States. The company also outsourced its job board business, Stepstone, to North American investor.
These measures are part of a strategic shift focusing on artificial intelligence, live journalism, and stronger editorial content, while reducing reliance on traffic-driven and commerce-based content.
Axel Springer, owner of major media brands such as Bild, Welt, Politico, and Morning Brew, is repositioning itself for long-term resilience amid platform decline and rising AI adoption. Axel Springer operates in more than 40 countries. In 2024, the Group employed about 18,000 people worldwide.
Eurofound (2025), Axel Springer, Internal restructuring in World, factsheet number 202926, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/202926.
Digitisation and automation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can affect working conditions in a variety of ways and their use in the workplace raises a host of new ethical concerns.
The retail banking sector is fertile ground for studying the impacts of digitalisation on work and employment. Financial services are increasingly provided online, without the intermediary of customer-facing institutions.
European labour markets have recovered strongly from COVID-19. By the end of 2021, little more than 18 months after the start of the pandemic, employment rates in the EU were almost at pre-crisis levels.
