 In September 1914, a German consortium purchased the paper (together with Cantacuzino's other gazette, "Minerva"), and Bogdan-Pitești was kept on as a simple columnist.Throughout the interval, Bogdan-Pitești was himself an outspoken Germanophile.His circle, which was already hostile to the National Liberal cabinet of Ion I. C. Brătianu, welcomed the diverse groups who were alarmed by Romania's probable entry into the war