Price War Investigation As Telegraph Broker Resigns

The Office of Fair Trading announced yesterday that it is to undertake a preliminary inquiry into whether price cuts by the Times and the Daily Telegraph constitute “predatory pricing”. The enquiry is expected to last six weeks. There had been calls from MPs and the Independent newspaper for an investigation.

The sale of £73m of Telegraph shares owned by Conrad Black just before the price cut has led the Telegraph’s brokers, Cazenove, to resign, despite the fact that the Stock Exchange cleared the Telegraph of any improper practices. The Telegraph’s price cut to 30p has caused sales to rise around 30,000 copies per day, it is estimated.