The Spectator has been bought by GB News-backer Sir Paul Marshall, as its chairman and broadcaster Andrew Neil said it was his “greatest regret” not to have been able to choose a new owner for the magazine as he announced his resignation.
Hedge fund boss Sir Paul has paid £100 million to buy the influential political publication.
The takeover, which has been completed through the multi-millionaire’s Old Queen Street Ventures company, comes after a lengthy auction process to find a new owner.
My Farewell to The Spectator 1/2
It is with great sadness that I write to tell you I am resigning as Chairman of The Spectator, with immediate effect. I made it clear many months ago that I would step down when a new owner took over. That time has now come.
It has been my…
— Andrew Neil (@afneil) September 10, 2024
The Spectator, along with Telegraph Media Group, had been up for sale after a proposed takeover by an Abu Dhabi-backed fund was blocked by the government earlier this year.
The Telegraph newspapers are still seeking a buyer, and it is understood that Sir Paul remains in the running for a bid.
Andrew Neil took to X, formerly Twitter, to announce his resignation as the chairman of the Spectator and criticise the acquisition of the nearly 200-year-old magazine.
The British broadcaster, who previously presented The Andrew Neil Show, said: “It is with great sadness that I write to tell you I am resigning as chairman of The Spectator, with immediate effect.
“I made it clear many months ago that I would step down when a new owner took over. That time has now come.”
He went on to criticise the sale of the publication, describing the process as “purgatory” for the team which “did not have the power to choose our new owner or even influence who it was to be”.
“It is sad, even unfair, that nobody responsible for this success — that is, everybody at 22 Old Queen Street — will share in the upside,” he wrote.
The Spectator’s offices are based on London’s Old Queen Street.
The two media businesses were put up for sale to help pay off debts from the family to lenders at banking firm Lloyds.
They were sold to media consortium RedBird IMI, a group backed by the United Arab Emirates and US investment firm RedBird, through a call option worth £600 million.
However, in March, the UK government forced RedBird IMI to put the media businesses back on the market after launching legislation blocking foreign states from owning UK newspaper assets.
The Telegraph group has gained strong interest from bidders both in the UK and internationally, the group said.
The Spectator is one of the world’s oldest politics and current affairs magazines, established in 1828 in London’s Old Queen Street.
Sir Paul said he was a “long-term Spectator reader” and “delighted” with the acquisition through his Old Queen Street (OQS) media group.
“The plan is for OQS to make good previous underinvestment in one of the world’s great titles,” he said.
Sir Paul rose to prominence as the co-founder of Marshall Wace, a global alternative investment manager of more than 65 billion US dollars in assets.
OQS also owns online magazine UnHerd, as well the Old Queen Street Cafe and a publishing technology start-up the UnHerd Club and CoEditor Limited.
It is also acquiring international art magazine Apollo, which was founded in 1925.
The Government said it would not be examining the takeover because the Spectator is a weekly magazine, rather than a newspaper, so it does not have any powers to intervene on the basis of any public interest in the merger.
A spokesperson for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport said: “More broadly, it is essential that the availability of a wide range of accurate and high-quality news and perspectives can be protected, and that the regime we have in place is equipped to keep up with changes and development in our media landscape.
“The Culture Secretary is now considering recommendations previously put forward by the independent regulator Ofcom on the function of the current regime.”
