Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on May 14, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
The UK plans to allow foreign states to own up to 15% of newspaper titles, potentially impacting the sale of the Telegraph and raising media independence concerns.
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain is planning to allow foreign states to own up to 15% of a newspaper title, a government official said on Wednesday - a move that could speed up the sale of the Telegraph.
The battle over one of Britain's most famous newspapers has raised questions about the independence of the media and the role of foreign investors acquiring ownership of politically influential assets.
The then-Conservative government last year blocked RedBird IMI, run by former CNN boss Jeff Zucker and with the majority of its funding from Abu Dhabi, from owning the Telegraph when it banned all foreign investment in British newspaper groups.
Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI took control of the Telegraph titles and the Spectator magazine in 2023 when it helped repay the Barclay family's 1.2 billion pound ($1.59 billion).
Setting a cap would allow Abu Dhabi to retain some ownership of the paper.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport declined to comment.
($1 = 0.7524 pounds)
(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill)
The main topic is the UK's plan to allow foreign states to own up to 15% of newspaper titles.
This change could impact media independence and facilitate the sale of influential newspapers like the Telegraph.
Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI is involved in the current ownership of the Telegraph.
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