Berlin, Sep 25 (DPA) Germany’s second biggest domestic news agency, DDP, said Friday it was negotiating to buy the German-language service of US news agency Associated Press.
DDP owners Peter Loew and Martin Vorderwuelbecke said the agency was also interested in a long-term agreement on an exchange of editorial content with AP.

Associated Press Deutschland editor-in-chief Peter M. Gehrig confirmed that talks were under way, but did not say how long they were expected to last.

AP’s German service has about 120 employees. It takes its foreign coverage from the 3,000 people who work for the agency worldwide. DDP employs some 140 reporters, editors and photographers.

DDP was hived off from the US news agency UPI in 1971 and took over the former East German news agency ADN after German unification in 1990.

An investors’ group headed by Loew und Vorderwuelbecke bought DDP at the beginning of this year from its previous owner, holding company Arques Industries.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) is the leading news agency in the fiercely competitive German market. France’s AFP and Reuters also offer German-language services.

Declining revenue in the United States has forced AP to introduce a programme of cost-cutting and client rebates amounting to $32 million.

The news agency has already sold its Dutch-language service, but efforts to sell off its French service collapsed owing to opposition from staff.