Axel Springer Out of Race to Buy British Daily

German publishing group Axel Springer has reportedly been outbidded in the battle for Britain's biggest selling daily broadsheet, The Daily Telegraph. Springer, which owns German newspapers Bild and Die Welt, is understood to have bid for the Telegraph group alone, contrary to earlier expectations that it would make an offer for the whole group. A reported offer of £550million (€825 million, $1 billion) by Springer was below the expected range of between £600million and £700million. The Springer group joined U.S. private equity group Hellman and Friedman in the bid. Axel Springer, which was considered one of the favorites during the auction, has not commented on the issue. Four contenders are reportedly in the bidding after Springer's withdrawal.