Jeff Zucker’s Telegraph Buyout Likely Dead as UK Government Moves to Block Sale

Conservatives want to change law to prevent UK media from being sold to foreign governments; Zucker’s RedBird IMI is backed by Abu Dhabi’s crown prince

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Jeff Zucker’s bid to buy the UK’s Telegraph Group is all but dead after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak set out plans to change the law to prevent foreign states from buying British news outlets.

Zucker, the CNN chief, is now CEO of media investment firm RedBird IMI, which is backed by an Abu Dhabi fund controlled by UAE Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan — who also owns the Manchester City football club.

Their attempted $1.4 billion take over of the conservative newspaper and its sister publication, The Spectator magazine, generated “fierce resistance” from Britain’s Conservative party, The Financial Times reported.

Eileen AJ Connelly

Eileen AJ Connelly is a veteran journalist and educator who joined TheWrap in 2022 as a business reporter. She’s covered the insurance industry, the real estate industry and Wall Street for a number of publications and previously worked at The Associated Press, Dow Jones Newswires, the Staten Island Advance. She is also an editor at…

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