Axel Springer shelves French tabloid plans

German publisher Axel Springer on Thursday tore up plans to launch a French version of its Bild tabloid, Europe’s best-selling newspaper.

Confirming reports from Les Echos, the French sister paper of the Financial Times, Springer’s publishing chief Andreas Wiele said the proposed €120m project held “more risks than opportunities”.

Springer’s decision to ditch a project that would have sent shock-waves through the French newspaper market comes amid upheavals in French newspaper ownership. LVMH, the luxury goods group, is in exclusive talks to buy Les Echos from Pearson, the publishing group that also owns the Financial Times, for €240m, and if successful will sell La Tribune, its existing business paper.

But the deciding factor for Springer’s board, which decided to halt preparations for the French tabloid, is believed to be the limited number of outlets for newspaper sales in France. In Germany, where Bild sells 3.5m copies a day, there are 120,000 sales points. In France, despite a population of more than 60m, there are only 30,000 outlets, according to German publishing industry specialists.

But ditching the plan for France’s first national tabloid does not indicate Springer has lost confidence in France, where it already publishes four magazines: Télé Magazine, Vie Pratique Gourmand, Vie Pratique Madame and Vie Pratique Santé. Last week Springer announced that it had agreed to buy 41.4 per cent of auFeminin.com in a deal valuing the Paris-quoted women’s internet portal at €288m.

Announcing that deal, Springer said it remained confident about the French press market and remained on the outlook for acquisitions.

Since its €2.5bn bid to buy German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 was blocked by anti-trust authorities early last year, Springer has pursued expansion aggressively elsewhere. Last week, it also announced plans to acquire a majority stake in German mail services company PIN Group for €510m.