The Telegraph saga is nearing an end — but it has brought more questions
Opinion
The biggest question of all, if Dovid Efune succeeds in his bid for the Telegraph, is the extent to which the newspapers will have editorial independence.
The word is getting stronger that the long-running saga over ownership of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph will soon be resolved.
And the likes of Rupert Murdoch (recently of News Corp), Viscount Rothermere (chairman of DMGT), Sir Paul Marshall (now owner of The Spectator as well as an investor in GB News) and even advertising mogul Lord Saatchi have all fallen by the wayside.
They have either had approaches or bids rebuffed, and although it would be naïve to believe David Montgomery’s National World has thrown in the towel entirely, the way is now clear for a consortium led by Dovid Efune of New York City.
The word is that Efune is “poised to enter exclusive talks” with RedBird IMI, which owns the debt at the heart of the Telegraph’s ownership problems, “within the coming days” to become the new proprietor.
We are dependent on the reporting of the Telegraph itself that Efune, someone almost totally unknown in London until last month despite being born in Manchester, is now the man for the job.
Experience suggests that, from a variety of motives, journalists are really quite keen to get their hands on accurate information about their own futures.
No prior UK entanglements
Perhaps the most important single fact about Efune is who he is not. He comes to London clean from media entanglements in the UK and, above all, has no connection with Murdoch or Rothermere — this would have added to media concentration and might have been blocked by regulators.
It is almost an understatement to say that, with Efune, there is clearly a strong Jewish identity. He says he received no secular education beyond the age of 11 and his media achievements reflect that.
Through his studies in New York, Efune, who is 39, ended up spending the main part of his career as editor-in-chief of US Jewish weekly The Algemeiner Journal and was involved when it moved from Yiddish to English.
So far, so obscure. But in 2021, Efune launched a cash-and-shares deal for a recently defunct publication, The New York Sun. He relaunched it as a digital-only publication that, intriguingly, lists former Telegraph owner Conrad Black among its current columnists.
‘Principled and constitutionalist’
Efune and the conservative New York Sun insist its journalism is based on the principles they believe are lacking in today’s media environment: “values-based, principled and constitutionalist”.
In recent days, however, there have been strident pro-Israel tweets from Efune arguing that Israel should “decapitate” Iran’s leadership with targeted strikes and “close quarter assassinations”.
Indeed, Efune may have only been alerted to the possibility of a Telegraph purchase because of the “danger” of the title “being swallowed up” by the United Arab Emirates, an investor in RedBird IMI. Such a deal was blocked by the previous British government.
But at least Efune knows a bit about newspapers, particularly about managing them in the digital-only space — something that might worry some of the current employees.
Almost by definition, digital-only newspapers employ fewer people than print publications, although it is unlikely that anything so radical is planned from the outset.
The Telegraph is profitable and Efune is believed to be willing to pay more than £550m for the business, with the backing of Oaktree Capital Management.
Editorial independence
The biggest question of all, if Efune succeeds, is the extent to which the papers will have editorial independence, particularly over the sensitive and vital issue of the future of Israel and the Middle East.
Efune is a conservative figure and the Telegraph an obviously conservative-supporting newspaper, but would its stance on Israel, Gaza, Lebanon and Iran become a hard-line one dictated by the firm views of its potential new owner?
By comparison, a Montgomery ownership would primarily involve running the Telegraph as a newspaper business without a strident political agenda.
It is not clear how much the current owners of the Telegraph debt care about editorial independence or the tradition of the paper. By now, they probably just want a clean sale without further months of regulatory hassle.
As a new player in town, Efune probably meets that criteria, although the creation of an advisory board to protect the editorial independence of the Telegraph might help.
The editor race
Much will depend on who Efune choses as editor — the usual route by which proprietorial influence is expressed.
One possible candidate, former Conservative politician Michael Gove, has already been snapped up to edit The Spectator.
Former Telegraph editor Sir William Lewis might have been a contender, but is rather occupied as publisher and CEO of The Washington Post.
If Efune wanted someone with both a Jewish and moderate Conservative sensibility, he could do worse than look to The Times, where Tory peer and associate editor Lord Daniel Finkelstein might fit the bill.
Efune might also have a look at some of the suggestions put forward by Lewis in the pre-Washington Post days, when he was putting together a consortium to bid for the Telegraph.
Lewis spoke then of strengthening the Telegraph’s business coverage, expanding its digital reach and becoming more of a presence in the US — an approach that would surely commend itself to a new owner such as Efune.
Overall, an Efune ownership, if he gets a deal over the line, will at least put an end to the uncertainty the Telegraph has faced for years and put the title in the hands of someone who knows, and apparently cares, about newspapers.
The sums of money involved — £100m for The Spectator and now more than £550m for the Telegraph — are also testimony to the enduring value of newspapers and magazines in difficult times.
This article has been amended since publication to remove the mention of Hudson Bay, which is not a backer of Efune’s bid to buy the Telegraph
Raymond Snoddy is a media consultant, national newspaper columnist and former presenter of NewsWatch on BBC News. He writes for The Media Leader on Wednesdays — read his column here.