(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. government triggered competition and public interest probes into ownership changes at news titles owned by Russian-British media mogul Evgeny Lebedev.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright ordered Britain’s antitrust watchdog and media regulator on Thursday to investigate Lebedev’s sale of stakes in the Evening Standard and the Independent to entities based in the Cayman Islands, which he says have “strong links” to Saudi Arabia.
The intervention follows the recent sale of a stake in Lebedev Holdings Ltd., which owns London’s Evening Standard newspaper, edited by the U.K.’s former Finance Minister George Osborne. Lebedev has sold a 30% stake in another media company, Independent Digital News & Media Ltd., which owns the Independent news website, to another Cayman Islands company.
Wright said in a written statement the sales warrant investigation given the public interest requirement for accurate news and free expression of opinion.
The Competition and Markets Authority and media regulator Ofcom have until Aug. 23 to respond.
“We believe this response is unfair and completely disproportionate to the facts,” said a spokesman for ESI Media, which represents both the Evening Standard and the Independent.
He said the investigation would be bad for public-interest journalism and would create a barrier to future investment in the news industry.
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