Telegraph up for sale

[glazbagun]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65835312

I'm used to hearing about the Guardians financial woes but it seems the Telegraph hasn't been pulling in fortunes either.

I guess in the Telegraph's case it's stuck in no-mans land between the sensationalist Mail and the Times. I think the last big story I remember them having was the MPs Expenses scandal back in the Brown era.

Has their demographic just been converted into something else, or has a decade hiding behind a paywall just ensured their demise?

[FourWheelDrift]

Who is still buying newspapers?

[Eric Mc]

glazbagun said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65835312

I'm used to hearing about the Guardians financial woes but it seems the Telegraph hasn't been pulling in fortunes either.

I guess in the Telegraph's case it's stuck in no-mans land between the sensationalist Mail and the Times. I think the last big story I remember them having was the MPs Expenses scandal back in the Brown era.

Has their demographic just been converted into something else, or has a decade hiding behind a paywall just ensured their demise?

Their demographic has been converted into corpses.

[soad]

FourWheelDrift said:

Who is still buying newspapers?

Online often needs a subscription.

[AmitG]

I wonder how much of it is due to the bad health of the titles (Telegraph and Spectator), versus issues with the parent group. From reading the article, it sounds like the parent group took out loans which they are not repaying so the administrators are selling those titles in order to pay back the loans. So the titles are presumably doing OK.

According to the article the titles are worth £500m, which I must say surprised me - I would have expected a lot less than that. I guess they must be doing well. Or maybe it includes assets like offices etc.? I know that the Telegraph went digital and they are always doing special offers to get new subscribers in.

I used to buy the Telegraph many years ago but personally I would not buy it or subscribe to it now. Their journalism has IMHO gone seriously downhill in their desire to chase the Mail. The quality of writing is gone. As glazbagun said, I cannot remember the last time that a Telegraph story went viral since they broke the expenses scandal. And I think they have moved further to the right.

There was also a period where they were publishing Russian and Chinese propaganda pieces in separate supplements (but made to look like news stories) which left a bad taste. I believe that when the Ukraine invasion happened, those pieces mysteriously disappeared from the online archives...

I am very interested to see what the final price is, and even more so, who buys it.

[RSbandit]

Nice antidote to the sanctimonious crap peddled elsewhere...v happy subscriber here!

[bitchstewie]

Eric Mc said:

Their demographic has been converted into corpses.

Oof

I think I heard on LBC today that this has been bought to a head over a £65M loan debt or something you'd have thought the "billionaire" owners could pay out of loose change.

[S600BSB]

bhstewie said:

Eric Mc said:

Their demographic has been converted into corpses.

Oof

I think I heard on LBC today that this has been bought to a head over a £65M loan debt or something you'd have thought the "billionaire" owners could pay out of loose change.

My money is on the Mail Group to purchase the titles. Then you can have the same st in tabloid and broadsheet formats.

[AmitG]

I can imagine a tech billionaire being interested. The Telegraph name has value. I think that Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post?

I wonder if Elon Musk will make an offer

[NerveAgent]

S600BSB said:

bhstewie said:

Eric Mc said:

Their demographic has been converted into corpses.

Oof

I think I heard on LBC today that this has been bought to a head over a £65M loan debt or something you'd have thought the "billionaire" owners could pay out of loose change.

My money is on the Mail Group to purchase the titles. Then you can have the same st in tabloid and broadsheet formats.

It doesn’t seem far off the daily mail, even now.

[Whoozit]

Helpful perhaps to point out the statements by the Barclay bros clarify "this situation is in no way related to the financial health or performance of the Telegraph or Spectator businesses." It's a holdco leverage issue.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65835312

[b0rk]

The Barclay‘s effectively used the value of TMG to secure £600m (ish) of borrowing which they then used to prop up various other ventures, notably yodel and the very group.

The receivers are selling TMG rather than the other stuff as TMG has still has worth rather than being bin fires of businesses. It all comes down to how the brothers structured their ownership/investment vehicle B.UK registered in Bermuda naturally.

[FourWheelDrift]

AmitG said:

I think that Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post?

Didn't he do that to stop them posting something related to his impending divorce, it was cheaper that way.

[Carl_Manchester]

the issue is £1bn in family loans. the telegraph and spectator could fetch up to £700m.

[pquinn]

Whoozit said:

Helpful perhaps to point out the statements by the Barclay bros clarify "this situation is in no way related to the financial health or performance of the Telegraph or Spectator businesses." It's a holdco leverage issue.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65835312

Not a surprise how many people didn't need to actually read the story to jump to a conclusion, and completely ignored this little detail.

[eldar]

Whoozit said:

Helpful perhaps to point out the statements by the Barclay bros clarify "this situation is in no way related to the financial health or performance of the Telegraph or Spectator businesses." It's a holdco leverage issue.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65835312

Well, they would say that. Trying to flog a secondhand car. Sorry, newspaper

[JagLover]

No concerns over the Telegraph, but the Spectator has value as a fairly independent media outlet so it would be a great shame if that were lost.

[BikeBikeBIke]

JagLover said:

No concerns over the Telegraph, but the Spectator has value as a fairly independent media outlet so it would be a great shame if that were lost.

I have no visibility of the Telegraph (although their Ukraine podcasts are excellent).

On the other hand the Spectator is superb and the only news media I've every bothered to pay to subscribe to. (Well that's not strictly true - when I subscribe to the Spectator I feel morally obliged to subscribe to be New Statesman too.)

[OutInTheShed]

eldar said:

Whoozit said:

Helpful perhaps to point out the statements by the Barclay bros clarify "this situation is in no way related to the financial health or performance of the Telegraph or Spectator businesses." It's a holdco leverage issue.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65835312

Well, they would say that. Trying to flog a secondhand car. Sorry, newspaper

It sounds to me like an issue with lending too much money to the wrong company.


Personally, I used to read the Telegraph website a lot before it went paywall, but I was becoming tired of its stance on issues like foxhunting and drink driving laws. Since then I've dipped into it with a couple of 'free trial' offers, but I don't feel they are a business I want to put money into.

[S600BSB]

OutInTheShed said:

It sounds to me like an issue with lending too much money to the wrong company.


Personally, I used to read the Telegraph website a lot before it went paywall, but I was becoming tired of its stance on issues like foxhunting and drink driving laws. Since then I've dipped into it with a couple of 'free trial' offers, but I don't feel they are a business I want to put money into.

Agree. You have to hold your nose with quite a lot of the content.