Sir David Barclay: Telegraph’s co-owner dies at 86

Billionaire died on Sunday after short illness

Sir David Barclay (left) and twin brother Sir Frederick after receiving knighthoods in 2000 (PA)

Sir David Barclay, joint owner of The Daily Telegraph, has died after a short illness at the age of 86.

The newspaper reported that the billionaire died “unexpectedly” on Sunday. Sir David, alongside his twin brother Sir Frederick, had built a huge business empire that began with hotels and later expanded to include shipping and retailing.

In 2004, he added ownership of the Telegraph Media Group to his portfolio.  Prime minister Boris Johnson, who used to be a columnist for the newspaper, paid tribute to Sir David on Twitter and said: “Farewell with respect and admiration to Sir David Barclay who rescued a great newspaper, created many thousands of jobs across the UK and who believed passionately in the independence of this country and what it could achieve.”

The brothers’ venture into media ownership began in 1992 when they purchased the weekly newspaper The European, which was launched by Robert Maxwell two years earlier.

In 1995, the Barclay brothers bought The Scotsman, which was sold to Johnston Press a decade later. They then went on to buy Sunday Business in 1997, a competitor to the Financial Times, which closed in 2008.

Sir David first registered the brothers’ interest in buying the Telegraph group in May 2003, but then proprietor Conrad Black, who was Canadian, turned him down. However, in November of the same year, secret negotiations between Sir David and Mr Black began, and a $326m deal was struck.

However, the private deal was overruled by a US court. The Barclays eventually acquired the paper at auction seven months later for £665m.

The newspaper reported that the Barclay brothers had “operated as one” throughout their business career and steadfastly avoided personal publicity and media scrutiny. Together, they had an estimated wealth of £7bn, according to the 2020 Sunday Times Rich List.

Sir David was described as being “more attuned to taking a risk, and Frederick was generally willing to have a look but would never bet the farm”.

He protected his privacy fiercely, having once said: “Privacy is a valuable commodity. There is no incentive for us to talk about our business affairs.”

According to the Telegraph, he was close to former prime minister Margaret Thatcher and her trusted advisers, including Sir Gordon Reece, Sir David English and Lord (Alistair) McAlpine.

Both he and his brother were knighted in 2000 for services to charity, by which point their foundation was thought to have donated around £40m to charity and medical research.