Telegraph titles facing more uncertainty after RedBird abandons its takeover bid

RedBird Capital dropped its £500m bid for the Telegraph Media Group yesterday, throwing the future of its daily and Sunday titles into further uncertainty.

- Mark Sweney

The private equity group founded by Gerry Cardinale has been under intense attack in recent weeks.

The Telegraph newsroom and allies including the former editor Charles Moore and the ex-Spectator chief Fraser Nelson have published a string of pieces calling for RedBird’s links to China to be investigated.

Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, had been expected to announce a decision imminently on whether to let the bid progress and also whether it should be subject to scrutiny by the media regulator, Ofcom, and the competition watchdog.

“RedBird has today withdrawn its bid for the Telegraph Media Group,” a spokesperson for RedBird Capital Partners said. “We remain fully confident that the Telegraph and its world-class team have a bright future ahead of them and will work hard to secure a solution which is in the best interests of employees and readers.”

The Daily Telegraph editor, Chris Evans, told staff: “On the one hand, it’s no secret that I, all the senior editors and many of our writers had concerns about this bid.