Daily Mail Publisher Strikes $655M Deal To Buy Rival The Daily Telegraph
The publisher of the populist UK tabloid the Daily Mail has struck a $655 million (£500) to buy The Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph newspapers.
The Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) said on Saturday that it had entered exclusive talks with Redbird IMI to buy the newspaper group and that it expected to get a deal over the line “quickly”.
The news comes just days after U.S investment firm RedBird Capital pulled its bid to acquire the 170-year-old group.
The future of TMG has been uncertain since 2023 when Frederick and David Barclay, who were its owners from 2004 until 2023, lost control due to unpaid debts to Lloyds Banking Group.
Lloyds put the group up for sale to recoup the debts and accepted an offer from RedBird IMI, a joint venture between RedBird Capital Partners and UAE-based company International Media Investments which owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
That bid raised concerns in the UK over the UAE’s freedom of speech track-record and in 2024, the government passed legislation restricting foreign ownership of British media assets, effectively banning RedBird IMI’s ownership.
The UK’s left-leaning The Guardian newspaper noted that the new deal will amalgamate two staunchly right-leaning, conservative media brands would create “a right-leaning publishing powerhouse” and maybe have political repercussions.
“The creation of a large rightwing media organisation will spark concerns in Labour ranks, at a time when Reform UK is riding a wave of popularity against the government,” wrote The Guardian in its report on the pending deal, referring to the right-wing populist political party of Nigel Farage.
