• by Ray Schultz , September 11, 2024

The Spectator, in a deal that breaks it off from the Telegraph, at least temporarily, has been sold to the British hedge fund billionaire Paul Marshall for a reported price of £100 million pounds sterling.  

In May, The Spectator and Telegraph were put in play when Jeff Zucker and the venture company Redbird abandoned an attempt to buy them.

There was resistance in the country to a foreign entity taking over a British newspaper and legislation to ban this was soon passed, BBC reports.

Marshall said around that time that he was interested in the properties, and he is now in the running to also acquire Telegraph. Other contenders include Rupert Murdoch’s News UK and former UK Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, BBC continues. 

Also in the running is Dovid Efune, owner of The New York Sun, and a group of U.S. investors, according to Financial Times. It is.not clear if this will also run afoul of British law. 

Meanwhile, Spectator chairman Andrew Neil announced he would resign immediately, apparently believing that hedge fund ownership could create conflict of interest, BBC adds.  

Zucker is the former CEO of CNN and earlier was chief executive of "The Apprentice," the show starring Donald Trump.