Media News - Thursday, January 15, 2009

Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev to buy London Evening Standard

The billionaire and former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev is to buy London's Evening Standard on Thursday, in a dramatic move that would see him become the first Russian oligarch to own a major British newspaper, MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal. Lebedev is poised to buy a controlling stake in the ailing title, following a year of secret negotiations with Lord Rothermere, its owner and the chairman of the Daily Mail & General Trust. Under the terms of the deal Lebedev will purchase 76 percent of the newspaper, with the Associated Newspapers group retaining 24 percent. His son Evgeny, who lives in London, is Thursday due to sign the deal with Daily Mail & General Trust. The agreement will make Lebedev the paper's controversial new proprietor. The purchase will be an astonishing moment in British press history - the first time a former member of a foreign intelligence service has owned a British title. The Evening Standard is facing a combination of the industry-wide downturn in advertising, the shift of readers to the internet and a war of attrition in London with rival News International. The two publishing companies have waged a bitter loss-making battle since launching their respective free afternoon papers, London Lite and the London Paper, in 2006. (The Guardian)

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