Tycoon backer of GB News seals £100m Spectator deal

Sir Paul Marshall has sealed a £100m takeover of the Spectator magazine as the backer of GB News moved further towards his goal of controlling a large swathe of the UK's conservative and rightwing media outlets.

- Mark Sweney

Marshall, the hedge fund tycoon who already owns the UnHerd website, is also in the running to buy the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, with the second round of bids by prospective buyers due by 27 September.

The tycoon, a backer of the GB News television channel, which launched three years ago, has acquired the politically conservative magazine through his Old Queen Street Ventures (OQS).

Marshall, who has been in exclusive talks to buy the world's longest-running weekly magazine for the past month, has promised to keep the Spectator an independent part of his rapidly expanding British media empire.

Marshall, who will house the Spectator within the subsidiary Old Queen Street Media alongside UnHerd, said he is "confident that OQS will be a fine custodian".

"The plan is for OQS to make good previous underinvestment in one of the world's great titles," he said.

Freddie Sayers, the chief executive of OQS, will become the publisher of both titles. He said the Spectator would remain separate, with independent editorial and governance structures, including a new board likely to include Tory politicians.