Jeff Zucker, the former president of CNN, is roaming London this week attempting to calm Tory jitters and secure control of the Daily Telegraph by Friday. In an interview in the Telegraph, Zucker insisted that the Abu Dhabi backed RedBird IMI’s plan to pay off former owners the Barclay family’s debt by the end of the week and thus avoid bidding in the impending 4 December auction “wasn’t a UAE thing” and the paper’s independence would be preserved “or I would resign.”
Secretary of State for DCMS, Lucy Frazer was unconvinced last week when she said she was “minded to” issue a Public Interest Intervention Notice (PIIN) to prevent RedBird buying the broadsheet, prompting Zucker’s transatlantic jaunt. If he fails to persuade, the PIIN sets off a review that could take months. If he succeeds, RedBird’s plans include launching the Telegraph in the US where the Wall Street Journal is the only right leaning national newspaper.
As befits the paper that reputedly supplied MI6 agents with foreign desk jobs during the Cold War, the sale of the Telegraph is a murky and uncertain business. Lloyds Bank took control of the paper – and its sister title the Spectator – in June after the Barclays failed to reach an agreement over more than £1bn in unpaid debt.
Created in December 2022 as a $1 billion vehicle for acquisitions, RedBird IMI is 75 per cent owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and owner of Manchester City Football Club.
Potential purchasers – including The Daily Mail General Trust, GB News investor Sir Paul Marshall and the German media giant Axel Springer – had been preparing bids for the Goldman Sachs-run auction when Zucker and Redbird swooped with a family loan to the value of £600 million, secured against the Telegraph and Spectator. The Foreign Office, busy courting Middle East leaders, is in favour. Nervous Tory MPs are appalled.
Eighteen of them sent a letter today to Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, calling on him to review the Redbird bid, which they said represents a potential national security threat in view of the UAE’s increasingly close relations with China.