She is the main owner of the Axel Springer SE media conglomerate - and thus of Europe's largest newspaper Bild - being one of the richest people of Germany.

At the time, Springer was still holding 26.1 per cent of the corporation, the rest was held by the Bavarian film trader Leo Kirch, the Burda family and several minor investors.

Under her guidance, the Springer heirs bought back the company's shares from the two Burda brothers for about DM 531 million in 1988.

He led the Springer AG out of its crisis and dissolved the tight bond with Munich based entrepreneur Leo Kirch.

[5] According to the Forbes magazine, she owned a private fortune of US$5.1 billion (as of November 2017), thereby ranking as the 31st richest person on the list of Germany's wealthiest people and the 460th worldwide.