GB News backer unfit to own a paper, says rival

BILLIONAIRE hedge fund tycoon Sir Paul Marshall is “unfit to own a newspaper”, the US news executive leading a rival bid to buy The Telegraph has claimed.

Jeff Zucker, the former CNN boss who now runs investment vehicle RedBird IMI, criticised Sir Paul after he was accused of endorsing social media posts espousing “far-Right ideologies, Islamophobia and conspiracy narratives”.

Both men have vied for control of The Telegraph in recent months, with RedBird IMI currently trying to push through an Abu-Dhabi-backed takeover of the newspaper and The Spectator magazine in a complex deal with the Barclay family.

Sir Paul is co-owner of the fledgling broadcaster GB News and the website UnHerd, while Mr Zucker was previously in charge of news coverage at the US broadcaster.

Another potential bidder for The Telegraph is the Daily Mail and General Trust, owner of the Mail newspapers, the Metro and the i, which is controlled by Lord Rothermere.

Asked about his rivals on The News Agents podcast, Mr Zucker said: “With regard to other suitors for The Telegraph, I think you rightly raise the question … ‘OK, you’re opposed to this bid, then who is the right owner for The Telegraph?’

“We know that the previous owners, the Barclays, are not a viable option, we know the owners of other newspaper groups like the Daily Mail group or News UK aren’t viable on plurality grounds.

“And just last week your podcast exposed, finally, that Paul Marshall is

‘RedBird IMI is clearly the best option for The Telegraph and The Spectator’

unfit to own a newspaper. And that was clear from what your reporting last week exposed. We are clearly the best option for The Telegraph and The Spectator.”

A spokesman for Sir Paul declined to comment.

The social media posts he “liked” included ones that warned there had “never been a country that has remained peaceful with a sizeable Islamic presence” and that Muslim immigration was a form of “infiltration” that would lead to “the establishment of a totalitarian Islamic theocracy”, according to the charity Hope Not Hate.

Sir Paul has since insisted that the posts do not represent his views. He said he deleted them “to avoid further misunderstanding”.

In further comments to The News Agents, Mr Zucker also claimed that other opponents of RedBird’s attempted takeover of The Telegraph had misunderstood the deal.

The investment company’s backers include Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the vicepresident of the United Arab Emirates, triggering concerns that it amounts to a takeover of a UK national newspaper by a foreign government.

The US executive also claimed in the same podcast that Andrew Neil, the veteran journalist, had only turned against the takeover after being refused a job.

Mr Neil has strongly denied Mr Zucker’s claims.

RedBird IMI has positioned itself to take control of The Telegraph in a £1.2bn debt deal with the Barclay family which values the company at £600m. However, the proposed takeover is in limbo pending investigations by Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority.