Dovid Efune is frontrunner at deadline to buy Telegraph titles

The fate of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph newspapers will move a step closer to being resolved today when suitors for the titles reach a deadline to submit second-round bids.
Dovid Efune, the British-born owner of The New York Sun, is thought to be the frontrunner to clinch a deal for the papers, which have faced an uncertain future for more than a year.
He is not alone, however. Among those also to have expressed an interest is Sir Paul Marshall, the British hedge fund tycoon who has backed GB News, the news broadcaster, and who this month struck a £100 million deal for The Spectator, the papers’ former stablemate. National World, which is chaired by David Montgomery, the newspaper industry veteran, and which owns titles including The Yorkshire Post, the Sunderland Echo and The Scotsman, is another suitor.
A deal will shake up the media landscape in Britain. The Daily and Sunday Telegraphs had been owned by the Barclay family since 2004, when they acquired the papers and The Spectator from Hollinger, the publishing business of Lord Black of Crossharbour, for £665 million. They lost their grip on the business in June last year when Lloyds Banking Group took control after the Barclays had failed to repay £1.15 billion of debts.
The Telegraph group has been in limbo since then. The Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI in effect took control of the papers in December when it helped the Barclay family to repay their debts to Lloyds, but the government blocked it from making any significant changes to the titles while the takeover was being investigated.
Concerns about influence from the United Arab Emirates on a national paper led to a backlash from politicians and the media. This, in turn, prompted the government in March to set out plans to block foreign ownership of papers and Redbird IMI to put the Telegraph titles and The Spectator up for sale the following month.
Since agreeing a deal to buy the Spectator less than three weeks ago, Marshall, 65, has moved quickly to shake up the magazine by appointing Michael Gove, the former Conservative cabinet minister, as its editor, replacing Fraser Nelson. Lord Moore of Etchingham, a former editor of both Telegraph titles and The Spectator, has been made the magazine’s new chairman, succeeding Andrew Neil.
Marshall’s Telegraph tilt is backed by Ken Griffin, the American billionaire behind Citadel, the powerhouse American hedge fund.
Marshall is thought to face stiff competition, though, from Efune, 39, who emerged as a suitor for the newspapers this month. Efune took control of the conservative-leaning New York Sun in 2021 and is now seen as the most likely candidate to take ownership of the Telegraph titles. Previously he was editor of The Algemeiner Journal, a New York-based paper that focuses on covering the Middle East, Israel and areas of Jewish interest.
Other parties to have been linked with the Telegraph include Nadhim Zahawi, the former chancellor, who, like Gove, stepped down as an MP at the general election in July. Zahawi is said to have been trying to raise financing for a bid for the titles.
CVC, the private equity firm, had been interested but walked away in July, as did DMGT, the owner of the Daily Mail, which is run by Lord Rothermere.