The Telegraph already had its new owner. October's decision closed the old cases.

What the Telegraph is

The Telegraph is a long-established British national newspaper, and its politics are conservative. Its owner, Telegraph Media Group, publishes The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph.

Because a newspaper shapes what people read about politics, the UK government can step in when one is sold. The Culture Secretary can order a public interest review of the deal under the Enterprise Act, and freeze the paper's ownership while it runs. That is what happened to the Telegraph for three years, as its old owners lost it and four buyers tried to take it over.

What was decided on 16 October

Lisa Nandy, the UK's Culture Secretary, told Parliament on 16 October that she would not send two old Telegraph deals for a deeper "Phase 2" investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority. Phase 2 is the long, detailed stage of a merger review.

The first old deal was the plan by RedBird IMI, a fund backed by Abu Dhabi, to take control of the Telegraph. The government had put it under a public interest intervention notice on 26 January 2024. The second was a later plan by the Daily Mail's owner, DMGT, which had its own notice in 2026.

Neither deal is still happening. So both notices, and the legal orders that froze the Telegraph's ownership while they were in force, have ended. In Nandy's words, all government interventions in the Telegraph under the Enterprise Act are "now closed".

Several news reports described this as the step that cleared the way for Axel Springer. That is not quite right. Nandy approved the Axel Springer deal on 14 April, and Axel Springer completed it on 30 June. The October decision tidied up the cases that the earlier buyers had left behind.

Why it took so long

The sale began in early June 2023, when Lloyds Banking Group took control of the Telegraph. The Barclay family, its owners since 2004, had pledged it as security on a debt of £1.2bn. The steps that followed are set out in Figure 1.

In November 2023 RedBird IMI agreed to repay the Barclays' debts, including a £600m loan secured on the titles. About 75% of RedBird IMI's money came from Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the vice-president of the United Arab Emirates. Many MPs, peers and Telegraph journalists said a foreign government should not control a British newspaper.

Parliament agreed. A law passed in 2024 blocked foreign states from owning UK newspapers, and RedBird IMI walked away that April. In May 2025 the government softened the rule. State-owned investors, such as sovereign wealth funds, may now hold up to 15% of a newspaper.

A new deal followed. RedBird Capital, the American partner, agreed to buy the Telegraph for £500m with Abu Dhabi's share kept within 15%. It withdrew on 14 November 2025, and DMGT agreed its own £500m deal later that month. On 12 February 2026 Nandy asked Ofcom and the competition authority to examine the DMGT deal.

How Axel Springer won

Axel Springer is a German media group run by Mathias Döpfner, pictured below. It owns Bild and Welt in Germany, and Politico and Business Insider. Döpfner tried to buy the Telegraph in 2004 and lost to the Barclays.

On 6 March 2026 it agreed to pay £575m, well above DMGT's offer. RedBird IMI still held the right to buy the Telegraph, and it sold that right to Axel Springer. Under the 2024 order, that needed Nandy's written consent.

On 14 April she gave it. She also checked the deal under two sets of rules: the public interest rules for media mergers, and the newer rules on foreign state influence. She said she was "not minded to intervene" under either. Axel Springer is a foreign company, but it is owned privately, not by a state.

The Guardian reported on 24 April that Axel Springer had skipped the usual detailed check of the Telegraph's accounts to close the deal quickly.

Who protects the editors

When RedBird IMI was bidding, it offered legally binding promises. These included an independent editorial trust with the power to block the hiring or firing of the editor. Ofcom still judged that its deal could harm free expression.

Axel Springer's deal came with no such conditions. Nandy's statements of 14 April and 16 October set none. The promises of independence are Axel Springer's own. Its press releases say the Telegraph will keep "its distinct editorial voice and British identity", and Döpfner has called its editorial independence "sacrosanct".

So who would enforce that? Inside the company, the Telegraph's own code of conduct tells staff to "preserve editorial independence", and a breach is a disciplinary matter. But the company that enforces that code now belongs to Axel Springer.

Outside the company, the press regulator IPSO handles complaints under the Editors' Code, which Telegraph journalists must follow. That code covers accuracy, privacy and similar matters. In 2025 the Telegraph had 12 breaches upheld, the most of any UK newsbrand. As we read it, the code says nothing about what an owner may say to an editor.

The government's own window is narrow. Lawyers read the Enterprise Act as giving a minister one four-month period to act on a deal, counted from when its main facts became public. The Axel Springer deal was announced in March.

Axel Springer also has a written set of values it calls "the essentials". They include support for free markets, the alliance between Europe and the US, and Israel's right to exist. In June Döpfner said its journalists may criticise any government, Israel's included. He also said people who do not like the values should work somewhere else.

Lisa Nandy

Culture Secretary

Approved the sale on 14 April and closed the last government cases on 16 October.

Mathias Döpfner

Chief executive, Axel Springer

Now controls the Telegraph and has promised to invest in it and grow it in the US.

What happens next, and who decides

There is no step left before completion. The sale is done, and the Telegraph's future is now Axel Springer's decision.

The first big decision may be about jobs. The Guardian reported on 10 October that Axel Springer is examining plans to make between 50 and 100 journalists redundant, possibly before Christmas. The Telegraph declined to comment, and no cuts have been announced to staff.

The management has already changed. In June Axel Springer named Carolin Hulshoff Pol, who ran Bild, as chief executive. Döpfner had backed the editors, Chris Evans of the daily and Allister Heath of the Sunday paper.

The publication of Ofcom's 2024 report also matters. It found that IMI should be treated as part of the UAE state. IMI "completely rejects" the report. It came out during a dispute between the UK and the UAE over Manchester City, whose owner also backed RedBird IMI.

What it means for advertisers, staff and future buyers

For advertisers, the owner changed and the rules did not. The business they buy from is still shifting from print to subscriptions. In 2024 print advertising brought in £29m and digital advertising £20m, and print advertising fell 13% from 2023. Axel Springer says it will build up the Telegraph's commercial, events and subscription businesses.

For staff, the long wait is over, but the money is tighter than the promises suggested. The group employs almost 900 people, about 400 of them journalists. Its latest accounts show revenue of £273.2m and a £4m loss, from legal fees in the ownership fight and the revaluing of assets.

For future foreign buyers, the case sets out two paths. A private foreign company can buy a UK newspaper and be checked under the public interest rules, as Axel Springer was. A buyer linked to a foreign state can hold no more than 15%.

In both cases the Culture Secretary decides, on advice from Ofcom and the competition authority. The Telegraph sale shows how slow that can be. A slow review was one reason the seller chose Axel Springer over DMGT.

Sources

• House of Commons written statement HCWS386, "Newspaper mergers case", Lisa Nandy, 16 October 2026.
• House of Commons written statement HCWS1508, "Proposed sale of the Telegraph to Axel Springer update", 14 April 2026, and Lisa Nandy's statement "Telegraph Media Group: Proposed Sale", 9 March 2026.
• Axel Springer, "Axel Springer Receives UK Government Approval for Acquisition of Telegraph Media Group", 14 April 2026, and "Axel Springer Is Closing Acquisition of Telegraph Media Group", 30 June 2026.
• Reuters, "UK clears Axel Springer takeover of Telegraph newspaper group", 16 October 2026, and "Axel Springer buys UK's Telegraph for $766 million", 6 March 2026.
• The Guardian, "Telegraph takeover by German buyer cleared by culture secretary", 14 April 2026, and "Revealed: Axel Springer skipped due diligence before £575m Telegraph takeover", 24 April 2026.
• The Guardian, "Telegraph owner poised to make newsroom job cuts in investment promise U-turn", 10 October 2026, and "Telegraph up for sale as RedBird IMI walks away after UK backlash", 30 April 2024.
• The Telegraph, "Axel Springer completes Telegraph takeover", 30 June 2026, and "UAE bid for Telegraph threatened press freedom, Ofcom found", 15 October 2026. Telegraph Media Group, Editorial Code of Conduct.
• Sky News, "Government to publish Telegraph probes amid Andy Burnham Abu Dhabi row", 15 October 2026. PA via the Standard, "Telegraph takeover by UAE-backed group would have risked press freedom", 16 October 2026.
• BBC News, "Abu Dhabi-backed fund poised to take over Telegraph", 20 November 2023, and "UK to allow foreign states 15% stake in newspapers", 15 May 2025.
• BBC News, "Daily Telegraph: RedBird Capital pulls out of deal to buy newspaper", 14 November 2025.
• Press Gazette, "Axel Springer given UK government approval for Telegraph takeover", 14 April 2026, and "Telegraph recorded most Editors' Code breaches in 2025", 19 May 2026.
• Herbert Smith Freehills, "CAT provides clarification on time limits for reference by the Secretary of State in public interest mergers", 25 August 2019.