Semafor’s Smith says Axel Springer wants The Wall Street Journal

Ben Smith of Semafor writes about German publishing company Axel Springer and its U.S. ambitions, as well as its strategy against investor Bill Ackman’s claims against Business Insider.

Smith writes, “Company insiders say that a top acquisition target is The Wall Street Journal.

“Döpfner has also inserted himself into a new type of conflict within his U.S. publications. He pushed to fire top Business Insider editor Nic Carlson, after the high-profile investor Bill Ackman objected to its coverage of his wife, people familiar with internal conversations said. Ackman’s intense attacks on Axel Springer pushed the company to defend its reporting, and in recent weeks, according to three people familiar with the situation, Business Insider has exchanged several private legal letters with Ackman, who is being represented by the defamation firm Clare Locke. Though Springer has balked at Ackman’s demands, it has privately weighed whether agreeing to some of the billionaire’s suggested changes could avoid an expensive legal battle. (Axel Springer declined to comment on the Ackman case.)

Read more here.