German-owned media conglomerate Axel Springer has backed New York Sun publisher Dovid Efune’s bid to acquire the U.K. Telegraph, TheWrap has learned.
Axel Springer joins a consortium of other investors to help fund Efune’s £500 million, or roughly $673 million, offer to purchase the conservative British newspaper. Others include Baltimore Sun owner David Smith, who agreed to back Efune in December, British investment executive Jeremy Hosking and another wealthy British investor, according to sources familiar with the offer.
Springer, run by CEO Mathias Döpfner, owns the U.S. publications Politico and Business Insider as well as the German-based Bild and Die Welt. A spokesperson confirmed its participation in the bid on Friday. The deal was first reported by the Financial Times.
Whether Efune’s bid will succeed will depend on whether RedBird IMI, the private equity group that was forced to abandon its bid to buy the newspaper after intense regulatory scrutiny in the U.K. last year, will be willing to end its exclusive agreement to sell the Telegraph to Daily Mail owner Lord Rothermere.
Lord Rothermere’s Daily Mail and General Trust placed its own £500 million (roughly $673 million) bid last year, with £400 million in upfront cash and a further £100 million over two years. The U.K. opened a regulatory investigation into that transaction last week over competition concerns, and a DMGT spokesperson told TheWrap it remained “committed to investing in The Telegraph and its journalists, preserving its distinctive editorial voice and team, and accelerating its global expansion, with a focus on the U.S.”
RedBird IMI and a spokesperson for DMGT did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Efune’s consortium confirmed it made a new offer that includes a larger upfront cash payment with less debt, a bid it believes can clear regulatory hurdles.
“Our offer has backing amounting to the full required capital to consummate a transaction,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “We believe our proposal is in the best interests of the seller, the Telegraph, its staff, readers and the wider British public. Our commitment to securing the best possible outcome for all parties in this long and winding saga has never wavered.”
Efune has long attempted to purchase the Telegraph, at one point entering exclusive talks with RedBird in October 2024. However, he couldn’t meet a funding deadline in the transaction, leaving the papers on the market.
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