Black steps down as Hollinger Inc. chairman

Former Daily Telegraph owner Conrad Black stepped down as chairman and chief executive of Hollinger Incorporated today.

Hollinger Inc, which has voting control over newspaper operator Hollinger International, said the resignation was effective at 3pm Irish time – the same time a Toronto court hearing was scheduled into a shareholder demand for Lord Black of Crossbarour’s resignation.

Lord Black has announced his intention to buy out the minority investors and take Hollinger Inc. private.

The main asset of the company is its 18% equity interest and 68% voting control of Chicago-based Hollinger International, which recently sold the London Telegraph group for €1.2bn (€945m/£654m) and still owns the Chicago Sun-Times, the Jerusalem Post and other media assets.

Lord Black had said last Friday that he would resign “within a matter of days” to clear the way for the proposed buyout.

His decision to leave Hollinger Inc. came as a recent investor in the company sought to have him and several others removed by an Ontario judge.

Lord Black has already been ousted as chairman and chief executive at Hollinger International, after an internal investigation found that he and others looted the company of hundreds of millions of dollars.

If he succeeds in taking Hollinger Inc. private, it would be subject to fewer regulatory requirements, such as publishing quarterly financial results and keeping independent directors on its board.

Lord Black faces court cases and securities commissions investigations in Canada and the US stemming from the Hollinger accounting controversy.

He has denied misappropriating money and has argued publicly and in court that independent directors of Hollinger International approved the disputed transactions.

Hollinger International on Friday refiled the bulk of a previously dismissed case against Lord Black and his associates, intent on winning back more than $500m (€393.7m/£272m) in damage it says they inflicted on the company.

The amended complaint is similar to the one thrown out earlier last month by US District Judge Blanche Manning, who ruled that racketeering laws did not apply, dashing the company’s hopes of winning 1.25 billion dollars (€984.4m/£681m) in the case.