Media group Axel Springer has agreed to buy the UK’s Telegraph newspaper group for £575 million (€663 million) in a move that will scupper the proposed acquisition of the group by the Daily Mail, said people briefed about the matter. The deal will result in one of the UK’s oldest newspapers, which has strong links with the British establishment and Conservative Party, ending up in German ownership. However, in recent days the German publisher started negotiating a deal on its own with RedBird IMI, the US-Emirati group that controlled the conservative newspaper group, excluding Efune. It was never allowed to convert the debt it acquired from Lloyds into equity, which is why it then needed to sell this on to Daily Mail owner Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT). However, the deal still faces scrutiny from media watchdog Ofcom and the UK’s competition and markets authority.

Source: The Irish Times March 06, 2026 15:24 UTC