German news site Die Welt.de today reports that the name “T-Online” has been stripped from German tabloid news site “Bild.T-Online”, which is now being relaunched simply as “Bild.de”. The Bild.de site targets a readership similar to that of Springer's popular Bild tabloid newspaper. German Publishing group Axel Springer had earlier bought out Deutsche Telekom's 37 percent stake in the popular news site, an acquisition which had to be approved by the Bundeskartellamt, Germany’s Federal competition authority.

Bild.T-Online was set up in 1996 and from 2001 onwards had been a joint venture between Springer and Deutsche Telekom. Die Welt further reports that the former joint venture company was being renamed BILD digital AG & Co.KG and that an earlier restructuring of the site had already resulted in a 40 per cent increase in advertising revenues from the site.