image source: Daily Telegraph obituary*
from the obituary:
In May 2003, when it was evident that the then [Telegraph Media Group (!?)] proprietor Lord Black of Crossharbour was at odds with other shareholders in his master company, Hollinger International, Sir David sent a fax from Monte Carlo which said simply: “I wish to register our interest should you contemplate any serious change in your UK interests”; to which Black replied: “Conditions are quite manageable. No assets are for sale.”
By November of that year, however, Black’s position was more vulnerable, and secret negotiations with Sir David began. A deal was struck …*
Sir David had an astute grasp of the political landscape and one friend recalled that he was “able to read the economic ‘tea-leaves’ like few people of his generation”. But as newspaper proprietors, it had always been the brothers’ policy to intervene barely at all in editorial decisions – though their editors knew that they supported Margaret Thatcher’s enthusiasm for small government, free markets, lower taxes, wealth creation and providing the means of social mobility to everyone.*
a copy-paste from the 2020 Sunday Times Rich List:
17 (17) Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay £7bn*
20210116T1542−08*
*a link; see a note on notes and links; see also a disclaimer / … and maybe browse or search the post archive*