Can Business Insider work in Germany?

Shan Wang of Nieman Lab writes about how Business Insider is expanding into new markets such as Germany.

Wang writes, “Business Insider Deutschland, which launched late last year on the heels of Axel Springer’s acquisition, started small.

“The launch happened to take place on the November Monday after the terrorist attacks in Paris. The team regrouped, scrambled, and put together a listicle: how tech companies expressed their support in the aftermath of the attacks.

“‘It is not the German way to brag about themselves,’ said Business Insider president and COO Julie Hansen. She and BI Germany’s editor-in-chief Christin Martens (who came to BI from Axel Springer-owned tabloid Bild) spoke to me together after the launch of the site. ‘Christin and her team did a great job covering that news from a German business angle; they found a business lens while still keeping it contemporary.’

“BI Germany started small, but didn’t need to start from scratch. The site is run in partnership with Finanzen.net, a German financial site also owned by Axel Springer. BI Germany borrows content from the U.S. site, Finanzen, and relies on a few additional freelancers, including one in New York who’s helping identify U.S. content that might work in the German market. The BI Germany team, with Martens at the helm, is up to five editors now, and is looking to hire three more, plus a social media manager. Amanda Macias, BI’s military and defense editor in the U.S., spent several weeks in Germany helping Martens with the launch, in addition to staff from Finanzen and other parts of Axel Springer.”