New York Sun publisher bids £500m in cash for Telegraph

Dovid Efune, publisher of the New York Sun, has secured last-minute backing from German news giant Axel Springer in an attempt to revive his previously failed bid for the Daily Telegraph.

Springer, which publishes Germany’s best-selling newspaper, the right-leaning Bild, as well as the more traditionally conservative Die Welt, Business Insider and Politico, offers cash and enormous expertise as one of Europe’s largest newspaper owners. It joins Baltimore Sun owner David Smith and Reform-backing hedge fund manager and steam train enthusiast Jeremy Hosking in supporting Efune, allowing him to offer £500m, largely in cash.

The Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT), which is currently involved in a £500m bid for the title, is less cash rich: with £400m funded by a loan from its banker NatWest and a deferred payment of £100m within two years. “The price is a well-known key consideration for RedBird IMI, so that is one hurdle met by this Springer/Efune venture,” says Alice Enders at Enders Analysis. “However, RedBird IMI already has an agreement with DMGT that is proceeding through a public interest intervention notice (PIIN) with Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority. This offer seems to be unsolicited and thus may go nowhere.”

Transfer of the ownership of the Telegraph Media Group is only permitted with the prior written consent of Lisa Nandy, the secretary of state for culture, media and sport, one analyst explains. “In Efune’s favour, Nandy does want fresh money in the UK newspaper market, but honestly, I think Efune will struggle to pass the public interest test himself judging by his title, which is far, far to the right of the UK newspaper industry.”

Efune, who was born in Britain but has built his media career in the US, runs the New York Sun website with a pro-Trump, pro-tariff, anti-abortion and anti-woke agenda. He struggled to fund his original 2024 offer of £550m, despite securing a six-week period of exclusivity with RedBird IMI, the consortium formed of US investment group RedBird Capital Partners and Abu Dhabi’s International Media Investments, controlled by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. RedBird IMI originally paid for the Telegraph in 2023 but the sale was blocked by the previous government over Mansour’s position in the UAE’s ruling family.

The DMGT bid is currently being examined by Ofcom and the CMA, which report back in June. Nandy has already expressed concern that, should DMGT buy the Telegraph, it will have a majority of the UK’s “right-leaning” newspapers.

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