The owner of the Daily Mail is in talks to buy the Daily Telegraph and its Sunday sister title for £500m, a deal that would finally end the more-than two-year hiatus over their future.
DMGT confirmed on Saturday morning Sky News’s revelation on the social media platform X that it had entered exclusive negotiations to buy the broadsheet titles, less than two weeks after their sale to a consortium led by RedBird Capital Partners collapsed.
In a statement, DMGT said the exclusivity period to combine the two national newspaper groups would be used to “finalise the terms of the transaction and to prepare the necessary regulatory submissions”.
A deal to combine the Mail and Telegraph titles will require scrutiny from the competition regulator, with the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, also expected to be involved in the process.
The collapse of the RedBird-led deal came after opposition from within the Telegraph’s newsroom over reported links of its chairman, John Thornton, to influential Chinese state actors.
Lord Rothermere, DMGT’s controlling shareholder, had intended to acquire a minority stake of just under 10% in the Telegraph titles as part of the RedBird-led consortium.
An earlier deal proposed by a consortium including RedBird and the Abu Dhabi state-owned investment firm IMI collapsed after the government changed the law regarding foreign state ownership of national newspapers.
IMI was to have owned a 15% stake – the maximum permitted – under the more recent deal.
“I have long admired the Daily Telegraph,” Lord Rothermere said.
“My family and I have an enduring love of newspapers and for the journalists who make them.
“The Daily Telegraph is Britain’s largest and best quality broadsheet newspaper, and I have grown up respecting it.
“It has a remarkable history and has played a vital role in shaping Britain’s national debate over many decades.
“Chris Evans is an excellent editor, and we intend to give him the resources to invest in the newsroom.
“Under our ownership, the Daily Telegraph will become a global brand, just as the Daily Mail has.”
A spokesman for RedBird IMI said: “DMGT and RedBird IMI have worked swiftly to reach the agreement announced today, which will shortly be submitted to the Secretary of State.”
If the deal is completed, it would bring the Telegraph newspapers under the same stable of ownership as titles including Metro, The i Paper and New Scientist.
DMGT said it planned “to invest substantially in TMG [Telegraph Media Group] with the aim of accelerating its international expansion.
“It will focus particularly on the USA, where the Daily Mail is already successful, with established editorial and commercial operations.”
