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Lord Black is an embarrassment that the Daily Telegraph has had to learn to live with. But at least his disgrace helps distract attention from the chaos enveloping the newspaper under its new owners, the Barclay twins. The latest, and most serious, manifestation of this came last week when the Daily Telegraph's editor, Martin Newland, resigned. It is generally believed that he walked out in frustration at being undermined by the management.
Lord Black undoubtedly left the Telegraph in poor shape. But an even bigger problem is that the reclusive Barclays, having paid a massive £665 million for the group, seem to be having trouble making their sums add up.
When the Telegraph group was put up for sale, the prospectus talked optimistically of annual profits of £50 million. In fact, it managed just over £30 million last year.
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| The Barclays, having paid £665m for the group, seem to be having trouble making their sums add up |
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Since their takeover the Barclays' team, largely recruited from the rival Daily Mail, have been cutting costs and making redundancies. But the figures still look daunting. After buying new presses the Barclays' total outlay will be in the region of £800 million.
Even if they can get profits back up to £50 million a year, it will barely cover the funding cost of their investment. What then? With circulations in long term decline and competition cut-throat, the first rule of newspaper ownership is that you must be a canny buyer. Conrad Black did well out of the Telegraph for many years because he gained control of it for an initial £30 million. Richard Desmond has done brilliantly out of the Express, but he paid just £125 million for it in 2000. Rupert Murdoch was only allowed to buy the Times because the competition authorities judged it was no longer a going concern.
If you pay top dollar, as the Barclays did, the sums probably never will add up and it will always be vanity publishing. 
FIRST POSTED NOVEMBER 22
 Conrad Black’s Napoleon complex
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