Telegraph is finally sold and National World also has a new owner
And Press Gazette strikes another small victory for press freedom in our ongoing battle with Facebook over the platform's arbitrary bans on local news providers
Good morning and welcome to your daily Press Gazette media briefing on Friday 23 May, in association with JobsInAdTech.com.
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As the sun rises on medialand today two huge deals have been completed which each, in their own way, are a vote of confidence in the future of news.
This morning US-based investment firm Redbird Capital has bought out its partner, Abu Dhabi state-backed IMI, to become majority owner of Telegraph Media Group in a deal which values the business at £500m. Depending on the passage of current legislation, IMI (so effectively the Abu Dhabi government) will likely retain a 15% stake in the business.
Given the huge new wave of disruption threatening our industry through the shift to generative-AI based search (underlined by Google's rollout of AI Mode in the US) it’s heartening to see the folks with deep pockets and expensive watches continue to bet on newsbrands.
The Telegraph's purchase price of just over ten-times annual profit suggests Redbird sees it as a business with legs - albeit one that has more than halved in value (when taking inflation into account) since it was last sold, in 2004, for £665m.
The Telegraph deal will get the big headlines because it is one of our flagship national newsbrands and it ends two years of drama and uncertainty since it was repossessed by Lloyds Bank.
But for more than 200 towns and cities around the UK, from Berwick to Battle, their local National World title is the only player providing professional journalism and holding those in power to account.
The deal takes National World into private ownership, hopefully freeing it from some of the day-to-day pressure from shareholders to deliver page views and profit margins with Denmark promising to take a “longer term view”.
Both companies now at least have certainty and owners with a plan which can only be good news for their future prospects.
Today we also report on another victory for press freedom struck by your doughty Press Gazette team as we persuade Facebook to un-ban a third UK local news publisher in just the last few weeks. I use the royal ‘we’ here, Charlotte Tobitt did all the work on this one.
Some 164 journalists and media workers have been killed in the territory since October 2023 in what has been the most deadly campaign of violence against news media in recorded history.
Enjoy your weekend when you get there.
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On Press Gazette
Redbird buys Telegraph in £500m deal with Abu Dhabi to keep minority stake
“We believe that the UK is a great place to invest, and this acquisition is an important part of Redbird’s growing portfolio of media and entertainment companies in the UK.”
New National World owner promises staff ‘longer-term view’ after takeover
Malcolm Denmark says business will not be based on chasing "short-term" results.
Facebook slammed for ‘attack on local journalism’ after third site ‘restricted’
Upcoming Online Safety Act measures will require better protections for publisher content on platforms.
The most profitable revenue stream some publishers have never heard of (promoted)
Wright's Media's Michelle Myers on how publishers can make money from content they have already created.
Robert Peston leads Jewish journalists’ call for media access into Gaza
“It is vitally important that the international media be able to enter Gaza, to provide trustworthy impartial reports on globally significant events, and ease the burden on local reporters.”
News in brief
AI Mode has been added to the main Google search bar in the US. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said people could ask "both longer and more complex queries". (BBC)
The Chicago Sun-Times published an AI-generated summer reading list that contained books that don't exist. The publisher says it had not reviewed the section which was licensed from Hearst-owned King Features. (404 Media)
Tommy Robinson has been charged with harassment causing fear of violence against two male journalists in August last year. (The Independent)
Patrick Butler and Josh Halliday of The Guardian have won the Paul Foot Award for their "enraging and heartbreaking" investigation into the carer's allowance scandal. (Private Eye)
There was one first-place prize for a UK publisher at the INMA Global Media Awards last night: Reach won best use of social media for the way it has automated its posting on Facebook leading to "growth in areas we have not seen for around two years". The Daily Mail in the US won the same category for its Tiktok success. (INMA)
More than 40 publishers including the New York Times, Hearst Magazines, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and NPR have joined a new attention metric marketplace - based on quality over quantity of audience - at its launch. (Adweek)
Pulitzer-winning The Baltimore Banner's editor-in-chief Kimi Yoshino is joining The Washington Post as managing editor overseeing features, sports, local, investigations and data to complete the leadership team of executive editor Matt Murray. (The Washington Post)
Spectator and Unherd owner and GB News co-owner Paul Marshall has described the BBC as "a giant toad in the middle of the UK media landscape, an embodiment of anti-competitive market distortion..." (Financial Times)
The EU will give $6.2m to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to keep functioning and fighting for its survival after it had $75m in US funding withheld by Donald Trump. (NPR)
Irish Times managing director Deirdre Veldon appointed as president of News Media Europe to guide its "mission to promote a strong, sustainable and pluralistic media landscape across Europe". (News Media Europe)
Also on Press Gazette
City AM expands events, commercial video and launches prize draws
How The Economist is building engagement to reduce subscriber churn
‘Print is new counter culture’ says Vittles founder as newsletter launches in print
‘The algorithm is a beast’: Editing for social media at Ladbible, Joe and Metro
Express rapped by IPSO over inaccurate headlines six times in three months
Man who said Guardian article ‘forced him into hiding’ has libel case thrown out
Latest podcast: Death of the website, the never-ending pivot to video and why Dom loves Substack
'The death of the website' was the name of one panel session at a recent publishing industry conference. Press Gazette editor in chief Dominic Ponsford and UK editor Charlotte Tobitt discuss the latest challenges posed to publishers by Google changes and the rise of social.
They also analyse the latest publisher pivot to video (more a never-ending pirouette) and Dominic explains why he has become an unpaid brand ambassador for Substack.