Die Welt is a German national daily newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. It is the flagship newspaper of Axel Springer and its main competitors are the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the Süddeutsche Zeitung, and the Frankfurter Rundschau. Die Welt takes a liberal cosmopolitan position in editing but is generally considered to be conservative.
It is an average circulation newspaper that can be found in more than 130 countries. It has a main editorial office in Berlin, and daily regional editions appear in Berlin, Hamburg, and Bremen. From 2004 to 2019, the newspaper also published a compact edition called Welt Kompakt. It does not appear on Sundays, but the linked publication Welt am Sonntag takes its place.
Die Welt was founded in Hamburg in 1946 by the British occupying forces. It aimed to provide a quality newspaper, similar to The Times. In 1953, it was bought by Axel Springer and adopted a policy of providing two leading articles on major questions, one British and one German.
It is a German newspaper that has a circulation of 209,677 copies. In 2010, the paper underwent a redesign with a new logo and typography. It also launched Welt Kompakt and was recognized by the Society for News Design in 2009. In 2014, the Swiss German business magazine BILANZ began to be published as a monthly supplement to Die Welt. On 18 January 2018, the German TV channel N24 changed its name to Welt.
In February 2008, the paper was banned in Egypt due to the publication of cartoons featuring Muhammad. The Die Welt book supplement Die Literarische Welt has presented an annual €10,000 literature prize since 1999. This award is in honor of Willy Haas who founded The Literary World in 1925. It is available to international authors.