Owner of the Daily Mail strikes £500 million deal to buy The Daily Telegraph
The owner of the Daily Mail has struck a £500m deal to buy the Daily Telegraph in a bid to secure the future of one of the world’s most prestigious media brands.
DMGT has signed an exclusivity agreement with RedBird IMI, which has stepped in to acquire The Telegraph Media Group, to finalize the terms of the transaction and prepare the necessary regulatory submissions: if approved, the Daily Telegraph will join DMGT’s diverse stable, which also includes the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday, Metro, The i Paper and New Scientist.
DMGT says the proposed acquisition will give Telegraph employees ‘much-needed confidence’ after years of uncertainty over the future of the title and enable the group to ‘draw on DMGT’s significant resources and experience in transforming media brands in the digital world and transforming British brands into global news operations’.
If the deal is approved, the Telegraph will retain its editorial independence.
The announcement comes a week after US private equity group RedBird Capital, led by former Goldman Sachs banker Gerry Cardinale, halted its attempt to buy the 170-year-old newspaper.
The new merger will need to be approved by the UK’s regulators. It will not involve foreign government investment or capital.
The owner of the Daily Mail has struck a £500m deal to buy The Daily Telegraph in a bid to secure the future of one of the world’s most prestigious media brands
DMGT said in a statement: ‘DMGT has been proud to be a responsible custodian of its long-term holdings of media assets for over 100 years. The company plans to invest significantly in TMG to accelerate international expansion. It will focus particularly on the US, where the Daily Mail is already successful with its established editorial and commercial operations.’
He added: ‘DMGT places great importance on the editorial independence of its titles and The Daily Telegraph will remain editorially independent from other titles in the group. The transaction will comply with the UK’s Foreign Sovereign Influence regime as there will be no foreign government investment or capital in the financing structure.
‘DMGT is confident that any regulatory process can be concluded quickly and positively, as approval of the acquisition is a challenging situation.
‘Today’s media environment is unrecognizable from ten years ago. News publishers must compete with both vast global online platforms and countless digital and social media news sources, some of which are highly unreliable.
‘The role of trusted news media has never been more important and requires news publishers with the scale and experience to compete.’
DMGT Chairman Lord Rothermere said: ‘I have long admired the Daily Telegraph. My family and I have an enduring love for newspapers and the journalists who make them.
‘The Daily Telegraph is Britain’s largest and highest quality broadsheet newspaper and I grew up respecting it. It has a remarkable history and has played a vital role in shaping Britain’s national debate for decades.
‘Chris Evans is an excellent editor and we aim to give him the resources to invest in the newsroom. ‘Under our ownership, the Daily Telegraph will become a global brand, just like the Daily Mail.’
A spokesman for RedBird IMI said: ‘DMGT and RedBird IMI worked quickly to reach the agreement which has been announced today and will be presented to the Secretary of State shortly.’
