Mathias Döpfner is the chairman and CEO of Axel Springer SE, owner of the US media brands Politico, Insider, and Morning Brew, and the largest digital publisher in Europe. He joined the company in 1998 as editor in chief of the German daily Welt and became CEO in 2002. Ever since, he has pushed the digital transformation to defend independent quality journalism. He is a member of the board of directors of Netflix and Warner Music Group, serves on the steering committee of the Bilderberg Meeting, and holds an honorary office on the American Jewish Committee. He studied musicology, German literature, and theatrical arts in Boston and Frankfurt, where he also completed his PhD.