Waiting twenty years for another chance to secure a prized business acquisition is a luxury not available to many executives. The Rothermere family, though, adopts a more patient approach to time.
While most business boards draw up short-term strategies, the family, having compiled a feared media empire over over one hundred years, are accustomed to thinking in terms of generations.
It was in the year 2004 that Jonathan Harold Esmond Vere Harmsworth, the tall, curly haired proprietor of the Daily Mail, was unsuccessful in his attempt to acquire the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph.
By Rothermere’s assessment, the setback pleased Rupert Murdoch because it would have created a stable of rightwing newspapers influential enough to challenge the “distinct political influence” of his publications.
The softly spoken Rothermere, though, was able to adopt a patient strategy. The publications were again put up for sale in 2023. Since then, two potential buyers have come and gone, both after staff rebellions over their suitability. Rothermere has now made his move.
In the process, the 57-year-old has reinforced his family’s obsession with UK press, after his ancestors acquired, disposed of, and merged some of the biggest titles of their era.
“Lord Rothermere has got a business head, but he’s not sharply business minded,” stated Alex DeGroote. “It may sound sentimental, but his dedication to journalism is authentic.” “I believe they have long aimed to consolidate media outlets catering to centre-right readers.”
Huge issues remain before the hereditary peer’s DMGT group can clinch the publications. Alongside regulatory and diversity issues, staff members are questioning how he will provide the half-billion-pound price tag. Nevertheless, his aspirations of creating a right-leaning media giant have been revived.
This constituted a bold bid for a owner who takes pride on remaining out of the public eye, often noting his readiness to let the combative opinions of the Daily Mail differ from his own moderate, Europhile stance.
With the Rothermeres, however, purchasing media assets are a dynastic tradition. A portrait of Alfred Harmsworth, his great-great-uncle who established the Daily Mail in 1896, dominates Rothermere’s office. A childhood recollection was of his father, Vere, bringing him to the hot-metal newspaper presses.
A young Jonathan would be involved in discussions about the difficult start for the Mail on Sunday in 1982. He recalls the stress of the vicious battle in 1987 between the London Daily News and his family’s Evening Standard, which he eventually divested.
He personally dabbled in journalism, serving as a subeditor and reporter on the Sunday Mail in Scotland, before concentrating on the commercial operations of his family’s group. When his father died in 1998, Rothermere is said to have had about 20 minutes upon arriving back from the hospital before business communications began, in effect starting his leadership of DMGT, at thirty years old.
In the past, he sold off profitable parts of the business to concentrate on the Mail and additional press holdings. The Telegraph bid is the latest sign of his keenness to consolidate the dynastic press dominance. “This is a 20-year plus target acquisition,” commented a former DMGT executive. “He doesn’t want the Mail as the only newspaper asset he leaves for his son Vere.”
His choice to delist the company in 2021 has also made the Telegraph pursuit easier. “I don’t have to justify myself to anybody,” he said soon after the decision.
Intervening to change the Telegraph’s editorial line would be uncharacteristic. An ex-editor informed that neither Rothermere nor his father interfered editorially.
“That is the main reason why I turned down very enticing offers to edit the Times and the Telegraph,” he said. “Frankly, I simply didn’t believe that other proprietors would give me that freedom. It’s difficult to overstate how valuable that freedom is to an editor.”
He added, “Fleet Street is littered with the corpses of sacked editors who, amid crashing circulations, tried to please their proprietors rather than their readers. The Rothermeres have always understood that. It’s a sacred principle for them that editors are given total editorial autonomy, with the brutally clear understanding that they are dismissed if they produce poor papers.”
Amid the UK's political landscape appearing to shift to the conservative side, there are predictable apprehensions about combining the Mail and Telegraph at a juncture when each have been increasing reporting of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party.
Several progressive figures believe the Mail’s combative tone has become even starker in recent times, pointing to its championing of narratives pushed by the political leader on migration and the “progressive” agenda. Some believe the Telegraph has undergone an more extreme transformation, often running far-right opinion pieces that exceed those of the Mail.
Many queries remain about how someone even with Rothermere’s resources has the funds. The majority of experts estimate that a more realistic price tag for the titles is in the range of £350m, but Rothermere is prepared to pay a higher price.
DMGT does not have a available £500m, the sum reportedly demanded by the existing owners as they seek to recover the loan that gained it control of the titles previously.
He has committed to keep the Telegraph and Mail titles independent in content, regarding them as catering to distinct readerships – quality and popular press. Nonetheless, there are apprehensions within both publications over cuts and the longer-term plans, given the condition of the press sector.
Again, the dynasty has shown a readiness to take drastic action when necessary. When Rothermere’s father was trying to rescue an struggling Daily Mail in 1971, he combined it with the Daily Sketch, brutally sacking numerous staff in the aftermath.
A government minister has asked that DMGT and the current owners submit the proposed deal to the government within three weeks, but the remaining challenges will mean the saga rumbles on well into next year.
“A company that owns the Mail and the Telegraph would have the scale to give both papers a better chance of surviving,” noted a former editor. “But, even then, such a company would be a pygmy compared to the giant internet platforms and the BBC from whom most people today get their news.”
Vere, 31, Rothermere’s heir, is already being prepared to assume leadership of the family empire, holding a key position in DMGT’s media business. Whether his responsibilities will include oversight of the Telegraph is the next great chapter in the Rothermere media saga.
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