Ariane Melanie and Axel Sven Springer

Logo of Ariane Melanie and Axel Sven Springer

Ariane Melanie and Axel Sven Springer are the children of Axel Springer junior, the eldest son of the publisher Axel Caesar Springer and his second wife Erna Frieda Berta Holm.
Axel Springer junior worked as a photojournalist under the pseudonym Sven Simon.
Axel Springer junior committed suicide on 3 January 1980.
His son Axel Sven Springer worked through the tragedy in the book ‘Das neue Testament’ (The New Testament), which was published in 2012. In 1985, Axel Sven Springer was kidnapped from his boarding school.
The other descendants of Axel Caesar Springer were paid out by his widow Friede. The grandchildren Ariane Melanie and Axel Sven, who together held 9.8 per cent of Springer, sold around 3.7 per cent of their shares when KKR and CPPIB entered the company in 2019. According to Reuters calculations, the package is worth a good €250 million at the takeover price of €63. Today, the two of them together still hold 6 per cent of the shares.

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  • Friede Springer
    became Axel Springer's fifth wife in 1978. The father of Ariane Melanie and Axel Sven Springer was Axel Springer junior (pseudonym: Sven Simon), the eldest son of Axel Caesar Springer and his second wife Erna Frieda Berta Holm. Dr Friede Springer holds 22.5% of Axel Springer SE via investment companies. A further 1% is held by the non-profit Friede Springer Foundation, of which she is chairwoman of the board. Friede Springer is also chairwoman of the board of the non-profit Axel Springer Foundation and founder and chairwoman of the board of the Friede Springer Heart Foundation.