Primarily providing distributed news, analysis and opinion online, it also produces printed newspapers, radio, and podcasts.

[6][7] In 2021, Politico was acquired for reportedly over US$1 billion by Axel Springer SE, a German news publisher and media company.

[9] Politico was founded in 2007 to focus on politics with fast-paced Internet reporting in granular detail, comparable to the sports analysis of SportsCenter[10] or ESPN.

[12][13] Their first hire was Mike Allen, a writer for Time,[14] and Frederick J. Ryan Jr. served as its first president and chief executive officer.

[16][17] From the beginning, journalists covering political campaigns for Politico carried a video camera to each assignment,[18] and they were encouraged to promote their work elsewhere.

[12][24] This shift in coverage received further support in June 2013 with the hiring of Susan Glasser to oversee "opinion from prominent outside voices" and "long-form storytelling".

[29] Amidst reports of tensions, VandeHei and Allen announced that they would leave Politico after the 2016 presidential election, but left far sooner.

[41] Multiple commentators credit Allen and Playbook with strongly influencing the substance and tone of the rest of the national political news cycle.

[43] Upon Allen's departure in July 2016 to start Axios, Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman joined Lippman to assume Playbook-writing duties.

[46][47] After Palmer and Sherman left to found Punchbowl News, Politico announced a new team of Playbook authors in 2021, including Rachael Bade, Ryan Lizza, Tara Palmeri and Eugene Daniels.

"[61] The site focused on how to "arm decision-makers in tech, business and public policy" with important global technology news.

[63] In September 2013, Politico acquired the online news site Capital New York, which also operated separate departments covering Florida and New Jersey.

[66] In September 2014, Politico formed a joint venture with German publisher Axel Springer SE to launch its European edition, based in Brussels.

[69] Stephen Brown, who was named editor-in-chief of Politico Europe in September 2019, died suddenly of a heart attack on March 18, 2021.

[70][71] Jamil Anderlini, previously Asia Editor of the Financial Times, was named Editor-in-Chief of Politico Europe in July 2021.

[72] Under Glasser and successor Carrie Budoff Brown, Politico expanded its focus on investigating Washington policymakers, leading to multiple resignations.

A series of stories by Sherman and Palmer in 2015 "helped break open the scandal that forced the resignation of Representative Aaron Schock of Illinois in 2015," according to the New York Times.

In September 2017, reporters Rachana Pradhan and Dan Diamond authored a "bombshell" investigation of how President Donald Trump's health secretary, Tom Price, was flying on charter jets paid for by taxpayers, according to the Washington Post.

The "indispensable" stories published by Politico under Budoff Brown in 2017 helped it "get its groove back," according to the Washingtonian's Andrew Beaujon.

[78] In October 2021, the large German publishing and media firm Axel Springer SE announced that it had completed the acquisition of Politico for over $1 billion.

[87] In September 2022, Politico published an exposé critical of NGO leadership at the helm of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic response, written in cooperation with the German newspaper Die Welt, another Axel Springer property.

[88] On May 2, 2022, Politico obtained and released a 98-page draft document indicating that the Supreme Court was poised to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide, as well as Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in its ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.

[93] Politico editor Michael Hirsh resigned in November 2016 after publishing the home address of white supremacist Richard B. Spencer on Facebook.

[102] On January 14, 2021, conservative commentator Ben Shapiro was featured as a guest writer for Politico's Playbook newsletter, where he defended Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives who opposed the second impeachment of Donald Trump.

[114] It carries advertising, including full-page ads from trade associations and a large help-wanted section listing Washington political jobs.

[119] Politico also has won four George Polk Awards, the first in 2014 for Rania Abouzeid's investigation of the rise of the Islamic State, the second in 2019 for Helena Bottemiller Evich's investigation of the Trump administration's efforts to bury its climate change plans, the third in 2020 for Dan Diamond's investigation of political interference in the U.S. federal government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the fourth in 2022 for Josh Gerstein, Alex Ward, Peter Canellos, and the staff of Politico for revealing a draft of the Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v.