Barclay brothers deny pitching Telegraph group sale to Jeff Bezos

Amazon CEO Jeff
Bezos.
Reuters

• British satirical and current affairs magazine Private
  Eye reported on Wednesday that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos looked
  into buying the publisher behind The Daily Telegraph newspaper,
  and that he was given a price tag of $900 million.
• A spokesman for the Barclay brothers categorically
  denied the story to Business Insider, saying the group is not
  for sale and it never has been.
• In recent years the media has reported that multiple
  buyers have expressed an interest in the group, but have been
  rebuffed.

The owners of a British newspaper group have denied trying to
sell it to Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos.

British current affairs magazine Private Eye reported on
Wednesday that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had expressed an interest in
buying the Telegraph group, and that its owners the Fred and
David Barclay had floated a price tag of £700 million ($900
million). The group publishes The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday
Telegraph, and the accompanying website.

A spokesman for the brothers denied the story.

The Eye reported that Bezos walked away thanks to the price tag
and the group’s financial struggles. 

“Perhaps they thought he’s worth so much that he’ll pay
anything,” a Telegraph source told the Eye. Bezos already owns
the Washington Post,
which he bought in 2013 for $250 million. He was also an
investor in Business Insider at one time.

A spokesman for the Barclay brothers told Business Insider: “The
Telegraph Media Group is not for sale and never has been.”

Rumours about various millionaires (and in Bezos’s case a
billionaire) buying the titles have cropped up before. In 2016

Russian entrepreneur Evgeny Lebedev, owner of the Evening
Standard and Independent newspapers, tried to buy the group.
He was rebuffed however and the Barclay brothers
insisted at the time that the group was not for sale.

Amazon declined to comment when contacted by Business Insider.