Telegraph bought by Barclay brothers
The Daily Telegraph, the UK’s best selling broadsheet, has been sold to the Barclay brothers for £665 million.
Already owners of the Scotsman group, the acquisition of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, along with the Spectator magazine, takes the brothers into a new league of media ownership.
The broadsheet was up for sale after Lord Conrad Black resigned as chief executive of Hollinger International, the holding firm of the paper.
Lord Black was accused last year of receiving $32.2 million in “non-competition payments.”
Hollinger International is suing the peer for $1.25bn, accusing him of “racketeering” and using the firm’s money to support his lavish lifestyle.
Lord Black has categorically denied any wrong doing and is embroiled in legal action against Hollinger International.
Immediately after his resignation, Lord Black offered The Telegraph to the Barclays for £245 million, but the Hollinger board launched legal action to prevent the deal going through.
The fight for the ownership of the paper eventually came down to a bidding war with 3i venture capital group.
It is not yet know what affect the brothers’ purchase of the paper will have on the editorial slant of the Telegraph, which has always been broadly right wing and supportive of the Conservative Party.
