Axel Springer boss used Bild tabloid to campaign against Adidas
Döpfner orchestrated stories against company for pausing rents without disclosing he was landlord
Axel Springer’s chief executive used his best-selling tabloid to campaign against Adidas’s decision to stop paying rent during the pandemic, without disclosing that he was the company’s landlord.
Mathias Döpfner, who has a 22 per cent stake in Springer worth more than €1bn, has become one of the world’s most powerful publishers, acquiring US media such as Politico and Business Insider as he tries to build “the leading digital media company of the democratic world”.
In March and April 2020, Springer’s flagship tabloid Bild published more than 20 articles chiding Adidas for a planned rent freeze during the first lockdown. Other retailers with similar policies including H&M, Ceconomy, Deichmann and Puma received significantly less attention. The coverage triggered a national outcry that culminated in one MP burning an Adidas shirt and posting a clip on social media.
During its campaign, Bild did not disclose that its group CEO was an affected landlord of Adidas and the source of the initial story. Land registry data reviewed by the FT shows that Döpfner is the co-owner of a period building on Münzstrasse in the historic centre of Berlin in which Adidas rented a store that operated over two floors.
When Döpfner was informed about Adidas’s decision to freeze rent payments, he was furious, according to people familiar with the matter. He contacted Bild editor Julian Reichelt and suggested that the paper should orchestrate a public outcry on the grounds that Adidas was a highly profitable company and the non-payment violated the basic principles of free economies.
Hours later, Bild broke the news about Adidas’ rent freeze. In its first article, it predicted that the move would “cause a big stir”. Over the subsequent days, the paper carried a series of articles accusing the sportswear brand of “breaking a taboo”, behaving “ruthlessly” and betraying the heritage of its legendary founder Adi Dassler.
In news and opinion articles over the following days, Adidas chief executive Kasper Rørsted was cast as a greedy capitalist who lacked character and undermined the fundamental principles of trust.
The Bild campaign plunged Adidas into a PR crisis, as customers and politicians threatened a boycott and German labour minister Hubertus Heil suggested that Adidas could be sued. Florian Post, then an MP for the Social Democrats, even burnt an Adidas shirt and posted the video on Twitter, saying that “I won't wear Adidas kit again and want to make a point.”
At the time, two out of three Adidas shops globally were closed in lockdowns, with sales and profits falling sharply. Adidas suspended its share buyback programme and its dividend, and later asked for a €3bn government-backed emergency loan.
As the furore continued, Adidas eventually backtracked, buying full-page adverts in German newspapers, including Bild, to apologise for its “mistake”.
Springer’s code of conduct, updated last year, stipulates that “journalistic publications should not be influenced by the personal or business interests of third parties, commercial interests of the company itself outside of the journalistic business or the personal financial interests of the editors themselves”. The guidelines also state that journalists “shall not use their reporting to obtain benefits for themselves or others”.
In a statement to the FT, Axel Springer denied that there had been a potential conflict of interest, calling the notion “absurd”. The publisher said that Döpfner passed on the information to Bild as he “immediately knew this was a matter of overriding public interest” which should be exposed.
“This is the job of a publisher. From today’s perspective he would and will exactly do the same,” the company said, adding that there was no expectation that Adidas would revoke its decision.
The publisher stated that Döpfner “of course” disclosed his personal interest to Julian Reichelt, Bild’s then editor-in-chief, but added it would have been “absolutely not reasonable to disclose the source” in print. Moreover, it argued that the reporting “was not about one single outlet in Berlin” but potentially affected thousands of Adidas stores globally.
“The story . . . was a mega scoop for Bild and was picked up by many other journalists internationally, including the FT,” said Axel Springer, adding that Döpfner “acted completely in line with our guidelines”. The company described him as “a CEO who understands journalism” and frequently shared tips with editorial staff. “It is not him to decide if and how this information gets covered or not; the newsrooms decide and act entirely independently.”
Reichelt said: “As a matter of principle I do not discuss or confirm sources, not even sources that may or may not self-identify. As an editor, it was
my decision to run the story.”
Döpfner this year resigned as the president of Germany’s publishing association after facing questions over his handling of a compliance investigation into alleged power abuse by Reichelt, who was fired in October denying any wrongdoing.
Adidas declined to comment.