It's Official: <em>POLITICO's</em> Headed to Brussels

A 12:44pm email from POLITICO president Jim VandeHei confirmed expansion to Europe, joining with Berlin-based media company Axel Springer to cover European politics and policy. The new media company will be headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. "Axel Springer is a highly impressive, highly ambitious company that shares our obsession with building media companies that produce and can sustain nonpartisan journalistic excellence," wrote VandeHei to staff. "We can tell you this is a 50-50 joint venture with Axel Springer and will cover not just Brussels but European politics and policy more broadly. There is a lot more to this new venture, and we will keep you in the loop as this proceeds." VandeHei hinted at the news in a follow up email to staff Sunday night after executive editor Rick Berke announced his resignation, saying there are “very big plans for expanding POLITICO here and elsewhere.” See VandeHei's full note to staff after the jump. From: Jim VandeHei Date: September 9, 2014 at 12:44:16 PM EDT To: TP-Staff Subject: Important News... It looks like the secret is officially out: We are joining forces with Axel Springer, Europe's largest and most powerful media company, to start a European edition of POLITICO. This is the start of a very important project for us, and we will have many details to share in the weeks ahead. We can tell you this is a 50-50 joint venture with Axel Springer and will cover not just Brussels but European politics and policy more broadly. There is a lot more to this new venture, and we will keep you in the loop as this proceeds. This partnership is aimed at exploring journalistic opportunities in Europe and is being set up as a stand-alone enterprise. Axel Springer is a highly impressive, highly ambitious company that shares our obsession with building media companies that produce and can sustain nonpartisan journalistic excellence. They do about $3.6 billion in annual revenue and house a number of digital start-ups in their Berlin-based offices. We are excited to join forces with them. This represents Robert Allbritton’s first big move since selling the TV stations and he is extremely excited about this next phase of our growth. A statement about the joint venture is below. Thanks, Jim and John

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It's Official: POLITICO's Headed to Brussels

Nick Massella

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