The Guardian has begun appointing editorial staff for the recently acquired Observer, with Jonathan Fenby, formerly the Guardian’s deputy editor taking over as editor of the Sunday title. Owners of both papers, Lonrho, signed the official contract with the Observer at the end of last week but the case has still to be referred to the DTI under the provisions of the Fair Trading Act, before the takeover can officially go ahead.
Owner of a 54% stake in Mirror Group Newspapers, John Talbot is planning to sell his share in the publishing group at a value of nearly £300m. A public share offering is preferred by MGN’s board, with a target price of 140p. The sale comes just two years since Maxwell first introduced MGN to the stock market at a share price of 125p.
