According to industry circles, the search for a possible successor was rather hectic.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The board of directors of the Springer publishing group is about to be restructured. With Ulrike Handel and Niddal Salah-Eldin, two women are new to the board. Starting in May, Handel will take over the media brands (world, image) from Jan Bayer, who will be responsible for US business in the future. Salah-Eldin takes care of HR issues, as the company confirmed at the weekend.
Stephanie Caspar, who is responsible for the planned IPO of the Springer subsidiary Stepstone, will leave the Executive Board.
What looks like a carefully prepared personnel shift is, however, a quick hit. With her withdrawal, Caspar had put the publishing group, with Mathias Döpfner at the helm, under pressure because she was the only woman from the top floor who wanted to leave. Springer is already being criticized because the company is said to have not properly clarified relationships between the former “Bild” editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt and subordinates.
The “New York Times” took up the topic, and the “Spiegel” reported under the headline “Fuck, promote, fire” about an allegedly tolerated structure of abuse of power.
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>>> Read here: The Reichelt case is also a Döpfner case – and for the Springer boss it is probably far from over
Axel Springer and Döpfner emphatically denied the allegations. Nevertheless, the image of a company stuck in the old days remained. According to the employees, frustration about this stigmatization grew in the workforce, which is certainly exaggerated.
48-year-old struggled with management culture
Caspar, who was responsible for Welt und Bild for a while, dismissed the allegations of delayed enlightenment as general criticism. However, she was already frustrated by the affair. Rather, the 48-year-old quarreled with the management culture in the house.
As early as last year, Caspar became aware that she had to change her job, as Springer circles said. She also wanted to be closer to the business operations. From the 18th floor of the Springer headquarters, where the board members share an office, she has a good view of Berlin. However, Caspar is far away from her employees there. They sit at Stepstone and at the real estate portal operator Aviv, who is in Paris.
The media group Axel Springer is expanding its board of directors.
(Photo: dpa)
Before Caspar took over responsibility for the digital subsidiaries last year, she was responsible for the national media business. Under her leadership, “Welt” and “N24” merged into one; at the same time she reorganized “Bild” and helped found the TV channel “Bild Live”.
She was able to be much closer to the actual business, says an employee of the publishing house. In her new job, her main task was to promote Stepstone’s IPO.
With the outbreak of the Ukraine war, it will not be able to take place this summer as planned because the stock market environment is too unsettled for that. “Springer does not have to sell, the company is solid and Stepstone is doing well,” said an investment banker. Bankers estimate the value of the real estate platform at up to seven billion euros.
Reference to patriarchal structures
The IPO was originally supposed to be the keystone for Caspar’s work for Springer. The company said she had already informed Döpfner about this last fall. The resignation of the only woman on the board would have been a moderate catastrophe at the time, as the company was already under a lot of pressure with the Reichelt case.
According to industry circles, the search for a possible successor was rather hectic. Some women had canceled with reference to the patriarchal structures in the publishing house, as reported by industry representatives. A Springer spokesman denied this.
In company circles it was said that there had been a number of interested parties. With Handel and Salah-Eldin, Döpfner has now found two women who want to support Springer in cultural change. Caspar doesn’t seem to have been convinced by this, at least she stuck to her plans to withdraw.
More: Sexualized abuse of power: The Springer case must be a wake-up call