Culture Society, Identity and Belonging
The sale of the Daily Telegraph is in danger of becoming a regulatory whack-a-mole as questions circle around Dovid Efune, the current favourite to buy the Conservative Party’s favourite newspaper. Ofcom takes a keen interest in who owns the UK’s newspapers: the regulator’s public interest test on the purchase of the Telegraph by UAE-backed RedBird IMI led to a law banning foreign state ownership of UK media. Those funding Efune’s £550 million bid remain unknown, but reports suggest his consortium includes Oaktree Capital Management and Hudson Bay Capital Management, an early investor in Trump’s Truth Social. Efune was born in Manchester, moving to the US in 2008 to run conservative Jewish newspaper the Algemeiner Journal. He acquired the right-leaning New York Sun in 2021. Efune may not represent a foreign state but his experience owning an American news website won’t help in the heavily regulated UK market. If Efune fails the public interest test… who’s next?
Efune is pro-Trump and pro-Israel, suggesting on X last week that Israel would “decapitate” Iran’s leadership. He has not yet spoken publicly about his Telegraph bid or plans for the title.
For any buyer, the Telegraph deal is a steal, says analyst Alice Enders. “The debts have been cleared and it has a balance sheet that’s the envy of all other titles.”
