Murdoch seeks 'to join Daily Mail and UAE to buy Telegraph Media'

The Daily Telegraph newspaper and the Spectator magazine have out-sized influence in British politics, and are seen as a mouthpiece for the Tories.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and the publisher of the UK’s Daily Mail tabloid are weighing an offer for the company that owns The Telegraph newspaper and Spectator magazine, alongside United Arab Emirates-backed investment fund RedBird, people familiar with the matter have said.

Such a bid would reduce RedBird’s ultimate stake in the Telegraph Media Group and may ease UK government concerns over control of the legacy media outlet, said the sources. Jonathan Harmsworth’s Daily Mail & General Trust and News Corp’s News UK unit have held back-channel conversations on how to structure a deal, they said.