RedBird Capital Partners, the private equity group owned by Gerry Cardinale, has dropped its £500 million ($658.5 million) attempt to purchase the U.K.’s Telegraph, clouding the future of the 170-year-old conservative newspaper.
“RedBird has today withdrawn its bid for the Telegraph Media Group,” a spokesperson told TheWrap on Friday. “We remain fully confident that The Telegraph and its world-class team have a bright future ahead of them and we will work hard to help secure a solution which is in the best interests of employees and readers.”
The decision came after the Telegraph published multiple news and opinion pieces questioning the U.S.-based private equity company’s links to China, effectively prompting House of Lords members to call for regulatory scrutiny. RedBird was also seemingly frustrated by the slow pace at which British regulators were considering the bid, according to The Financial Times.
Telegraph editor Chris Evans told staff that “it’s no secret that I, all the senior editors and many of our writers had concerns about this bid,” per The Guardian. He also said he hopes the next attempt to sell The Telegraph draws in “owners who care about journalism and who will invest.”
RedBird had been persistent in its attempts to acquire the U.K. newspaper, which often serves as a mouthpiece for the Conservative Party. It tried to purchase the paper in 2023 through RedBird IMI, a joint venture with the International Media Investments of Abu Dhabi. That deal fell apart after U.K. regulators scrutinized the foreign impact on a domestic paper, passing a law to prevent such a measure.
The update has already reportedly sparked interest from one party, though: Lord Rothermere’s DMGT, which owns the British tabloid The Daily Mail. A DMGT spokesperson did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
