Pandemic plunderers target Daily Mail

Share in Daily Mail and General Trust jumped by 10% this week after rumours that the newspaper business would be taken private.

Daily Mail
(Image credit: © Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Shares in the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) jumped by 10% this week after the group said that the Rothermere family, which owns 36% of it, “may take the... newspaper business private if the sale of its insurance-risk unit and online car seller Cazoo goes through”, says Ed Cropley on Breakingviews.

If this happens, shareholders will get 251p a share as well as a “special dividend” of 610p and DMGT’s stake in the insurance company Cazoo. This amounts to “nearly £12.70 per share”, a sizeable premium over the £10.60 the stock traded at before the news was announced.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri