The Telegraph titles delight in telling their readers that Rachel Reeves’s economic plans are collapsing in chaos – but the same could be said of their own drawn-out sale. Senior figures are now resigned to the failure of a £550m bid from Manchester-born Dovid Efune, owner of the right wing New York Sun, after key backers decided he was paying too much.
Attempts to draw Elon Musk into the buying process appear to have failed, with the X and Tesla owner unaccountably passing up the chance to work with Allison Pearson and Allister Heath in favour of a top job in the Donald Trump White House.
Even Sir Paul Marshall, who continues to throw good money after bad at GB News and splashed out an eyebrow-raising £100m on the Spectator, is said to be questioning the price tag, leaving legendary ad man Lord Maurice Saatchi set to try again.
Promoting his new £84 book of essays, Orgasm (“orgasms of the mind” he says, or “ejaculations rather than arguments”, according to a Telegraph reviewer), Saatchi told FT feature writer Henry Mance that it’s quite possible he will be the last bidder standing, but “we’re not going to be increasing” the £350m offer he made in the summer.
That would mean a whopping loss for RedBird IMI, majority-owned by the United Arab Emirates, which splashed out £600m for the titles a year ago but was promptly blocked by the government from running them.
