Murdoch and Conservative Rivals Circle Spectator and Telegraph

Thomas Seal, Sabah Meddings and Alex Wickham
·5 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- The sudden prospect of an auction for the Telegraph newspaper and Spectator magazine — two of Britain’s most influential conservative titles — has sparked interest throughout the country’s media and financial elite.

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Earlier this month, a unit of Lloyds Banking Group Plc appointed receivers to seize the holding company for both publications and removed the Barclay family’s directors, after talks over long-running debts faltered. Brothers Frederick and David Barclay bought the Telegraph and the Spectator magazine together in 2004, in a deal worth $1.3 billion at the time. David Barclay died two years ago.

Both titles are famous institutions intertwined with the upper echelons of the ruling Conservative Party. The Spectator is the world’s oldest weekly magazine still in print, founded 195 years ago, while the Daily Telegraph dates back to 1855 and claims the scoop for the outbreak of World War II.

Media mogul and News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch has coveted the Spectator for decades, and bid as recently as two years ago at a value of around £50 million ($63 million), according to two people familiar with the matter. Murdoch is in London next week for senior management meetings at News UK, according to people familiar with his schedule.

It would be trickier for Murdoch to acquire the much larger Telegraph Media Group Ltd., which overlaps in the premium segment of the conservative press with his British papers — the Times and Sunday Times, which he owns along with the Sun tabloid. Any deal would almost certainly face fierce political opposition and an in-depth antitrust challenge.

Enders Analysis values the Telegraph at £452 million to £586 million, according to a June 9 note to clients. Although circulation and advertising sales have dropped sharply, the influential titles could command a “trophy” premium, Enders added. It’s unclear whether the paper and magazine would be auctioned together or separately.

Boris and Brexit

Another potential suitor for the Spectator is the co-founder of hedge fund Marshall Wace LLP, Paul Marshall, who has told associates of an interest in acquiring the Spectator magazine, according to people familiar with the discussions.

A strong advocate of Brexit, Marshall has written polemics in the Telegraph and has funded the opinion commentary website UnHerd, which at the end of last year moved into new offices on the same Westminster street as the Spectator. He’s also backed right-wing TV startup GB News, whose initial founding chair was Spectator Chairman Andrew Neil.

A spokesperson for Marshall said that “while he doesn’t entirely rule out interest in either title, given his private investments in the UK media, it is too early to say anything meaningful and he is merely watching the situation from afar along with everybody else.”

Former Telegraph editor and Murdoch executive Will Lewis, now a media entrepreneur and co-founder of the News Movement, has sounded out potential investors for his former newspaper, although discussions are at a preliminary stage, according to people familiar with the talks.

Earlier this month, Lewis was awarded a knighthood by Boris Johnson, the former prime minister who dramatically announced his resignation from Parliament last week and was Lewis’ former star columnist at the Telegraph.

A representative for Lewis declined to comment.

Johnson’s role is itself the subject of speculation, given a close, career-long association with media titles owned by the Barclay family. Johnson edited the Spectator from 1999 to 2005 and subsequently enjoyed a £275,000-a-year commentator role at the Telegraph.

One former government minister said there was a good chance interest in the titles would come from the names on the Conservative party donor list.

Media Players

A strong contender for the Telegraph newspaper is seen as publisher Daily Mail & General Trust Plc, which was taken private by proprietor and Chairman Jonathan Harmsworth, known as Lord Rothermere. It bid in 2004 and has explored approaches in recent years, according to people familiar with the matter. The Telegraph outsourced its print advertising to the Daily Mail group in 2021.

In 2004 DMGT went up against conservative-leaning German publishing giant Axel Springer, before the Barclay family ultimately won out. Springer has continued to be acquisitive and spent at least $1 billion to buy Politico in 2021. The 2004 auction for the Telegraph also saw the Barclays beat venture capital business 3i and news executive David Montgomery, who now runs the acquisitive but small National World Plc.

Evgeny Lebedev, who owns the Evening Standard and Independent, informally looked at the Telegraph in more recent years but it never got to the stage of serious negotiations, according to two people.

Other possible interest could come from Middle Eastern or sovereign wealth: In 2020 a Qatari businessman bought the Ritz from the Barclays, while a Saudi investor bought 30% in Lebedev’s Independent and Evening Standard.

Belgian media group Mediahuis, which bought the Irish Independent in 2019, signaled interest in buying the Telegraph in 2019, the Financial Times reported, a move which would bring the papers back under former CEO Murdoch MacLennan, now chairman of Mediahuis — though earlier this year the company’s Irish boss expressed skepticism about the longevity of print news.

Private equity buyers could also weigh in, but the typical playbook for a buyout, cost cuts, and sale may be limited, according to Enders Analysis.

“The Telegraph does not have much fat to trim,” said analysts Alice Enders and Abi Watson. “It has no property assets to sell off; its print operations are outsourced; its print and digital advertising sales functions are outsourced; and the level of staff seems about right.”

The media assets’ receivers AlixPartners declined to comment beyond statements made last week.

News UK declined to comment. A representative for the Barclay family declined to comment.

Representatives for DMGT and Lebedev didn’t respond to requests for comment.

(Adds comment on private equity in fourth paragraph from the end. A previous version corrected Will Lewis’ honor: he was given a knighthood, not a peerage.)

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