
Mark Zuckerberg Interview with Axel Springer CEO - prostoalex
http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-interview-with-axel-springer-ceo-mathias-doepfner-2016-2?op=1
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Mithaldu
Important and notable while reading this is that the company "Axel Springer"
is the owner of the german equivalent (in paper) of Fox News, or for UK
people, the Daily Mail.

The influence of this is visible at the very start of the article, which is a
submarine advertisement for Berlin as a tech location, where Springer has many
businesses that look for candidates from a large pool of developers who they
then massively underpay.

~~~
golergka
> Important and notable while reading this is that the company "Axel Springer"
> is the owner of the german equivalent (in paper) of Fox News, or for UK
> people, the Daily Mail.

I don't know anything about this company and I see no reason not to trust you
on that. But since this interview doesnt' ask us to rely on Axel Springer's
reputation, or trust it's word on something, how is this relevant?

~~~
Mithaldu
Because it is likely that this whole thing wasn't written "because it is
interesting" or "contains valuable information", but because it probably
fulfills some marketing purpose or other hidden motive.

I'm basically saying: If you're gonna read this, bring a big salt shaker.

Note for example the praise on Berlin as a tech location. Note how effusive it
is. Now consider this: Starting offers for developers with 5 years experience
at Idealo (property of Axel Springer) in 2010 were 20000 € per year.

I don't know any details for other things mentioned in that interview, but i
would expect similar things to be "left out" as well.

~~~
SyneRyder
€20000? Good grief. Even if I wanted to take that job (as an Australian who'd
like to work in Berlin), I couldn't because the minimum pay for an EU Blue
Card worker is €38688 and that's with the discounted rate for IT-skilled
workers. (Otherwise the company has to offer a minimum €49600 for an EU Blue
Card to be granted.)

~~~
Mithaldu
Yeah, i was equally baffled. When i told them 40k would be my absolute minimum
they told me "You'd have to work for two then." They were also located in the
absolutely cheapest part of Berlin they could be in. If you want to work in
Berlin, prepare for a lot of research. It's absolutely possible, however due
to the huge population of students, prices can be weird.

~~~
kayoone
I earn 60k as a software dev in Berlin and know plenty of people who earn at
least around the 50k mark. Also i regularly get offers for about the same kind
of money or more. 10 years experience, no university degree.

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glossyscr
Finally, a nice piece on Zuck in Berlin, Axel Springer's CEO is quite a smart
guy turned that dino corporation into something digital in few years.

There was another public thing on Facebook (Q&A town hall Berlin) where the
German questioners had a) so-so questions b) some really, really bad English
skills and c) just felt like backwoodsmen, all paired by Facebook's European
head who is also German and must be in love with Zuck (he interviewed Zuck few
times on the trip and asked odd questions—why does an FB employee interview
Zuck??). Absolutely nothing against Germans, nice people, but especially this
town hall speak was a bit embarrassing and gave a slightly wrong picture of
Germans.

EDIT: Hey downvoters, please read my piece again, it's NOT against any
nationality—it rather criticizes how the interviewers/questioners were chosen
which might give a not representative picture.

~~~
Mithaldu
Pretty sure you're getting downvoted (i did not) for actally praising one of
the companies most reviled in Germany. See my comment below for details on why
it's reviled. Edit: Facebook is also widely hated, since many germans have
very strong opinions on privacy thanks to the history with Stasi.

~~~
creshal
> Edit: Facebook is also widely hated, since many germans have very strong
> opinions on privacy thanks to the history with Stasi.

Stasi, Gestapo, Biedermeier era, … Germany has been on the receiving end of
oppressive surveillance for longer than it has been a country.

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wimagguc
That's the same Axel Springer CEO who compared Zuckerberg to a dictator not
two years ago. Mathias Dopfner in his open letter:

"With the exception of biological viruses, there is nothing with such speed,
efficiency and aggressiveness that spreads like these technology platforms"

(Source: "Google under fire from European media tycoon",
[http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27063372](http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27063372)

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bitmapbrother
This is the same CEO that helped pass a law in Germany that required anyone
who publishes more than a short snippet of text from a newspaper to pay
royalties. Google, not wanting to pay royalties, instead removed Axel
Springer's news story snippets from its search results in accordance with the
new law. Axel Springer noticed a sharp decline in page views in the two weeks
following the removal of their news story snippets and promptly changed their
mind.

~~~
creshal
> and promptly changed their mind.

They didn't. They _sued_ Google, trying force them to link to them (and,
naturally, pay for it – a paltry 6% of Google's revenue in Germany¹). It was
turned down by the courts in September², only then was Google given a gratis
license by some publishers.

Smaller actors (other search engines, newspapers, bloggers, …), of course,
can't afford risking such a confrontation and now have to pay up for the
privilege! of being allowed to advertise for Axel Springer publications.

This, too, ended up in the courts, as said smaller actors sued the publishers
over the gratis license given to Google, claiming it was anti-competitive. The
case is handled in secret, VG Media (the organisation founded by AS to handle
licensing) is suppressing information of it from becoming public.³

¹:
[http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Leistungsschutzrecht-...](http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Leistungsschutzrecht-
VG-Media-will-angeblich-6-Prozent-des-Google-Umsatzes-in-
Deutschland-2626070.html)

²:
[http://www.bundeskartellamt.de/SharedDocs/Meldung/DE/Pressem...](http://www.bundeskartellamt.de/SharedDocs/Meldung/DE/Pressemitteilungen/2015/09_09_2015_Google_VGMedia.html)

³: [http://www.golem.de/news/gratislizenz-fuer-google-die-
streng...](http://www.golem.de/news/gratislizenz-fuer-google-die-streng-
geheime-niederlage-der-vg-media-1511-117284.html)

~~~
sangnoir
> and now have to pay up for the privilege! of being allowed to advertise for
> Axel Springer publications.

Very much off-topic, but your punctuation error left me wishing English
allowed for infixed exclamation marks. This would place emphasis on the word
'privilege' rather than on the whole phrase (as the case when appended to the
end of a sentence).

~~~
aylons
I don't think it was in error, but a deliberate attempt to add emphasis. I
usually put it in parenthesis(!), so it does not confuse the reader.

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agentgt
Intonation is missing when an interview is written instead of recorded. For
example I'm not sure near the end of the interview if the punctation marks of
Döpfner's dialogue are even correct e.g. is he making statements or is he
asking questions.

An example: Döpfner: America doesn't have these historic traumas.

