Media veteran David Montgomery weighing up Telegraph bid
Press executive and former News of the World editor David Mongtomery has expressed an interest to the owners of the Telegraph about buying the ailing newspaper business, which is reportedly up for sale.
Read more: ‘Structural decline’: Telegraph group suffers profit slump
Montgomery is also a former chief executive of the Mirror Group. He last month listed his media firm National World, the stated aim of which is to gain a foothold in the UK news business.
A person close to Montgomery’s media firm said the Telegraph is exactly the kind of opportunity it is interested in.
National World’s weighing of a bid comes after the Times reported at the weekend that Telegraph owners Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay are looking to break up their empire.
Ubiquitously known as the Barclay brothers, they bought the Daily and Sunday Telegraph from Hollinger, a media firm founded by Conrad Black, for £665m in 2004.
Since then, the Telegraph Media Group has fallen substantially in value. Figures published earlier this month showed its profit fell by more than 90 per cent in the last financial year.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Montgomery said: “Of course we are interested.” But he added that it is “far too early to make an estimate on what the offer might be”.
The Telegraph did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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