I see the national newspapers have today all picked up on the story of Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev supposedly making a bid to buy the London Evening Standard.
All apart from the Daily Mail (funny that...).
Granted, it's a nice tale, with some juicy angles to it. Lebedev is an ex-KGB man and pal of Mikhail Gorbachev who made a fortune out of the banking industry. His 28-year-old son Evgeny is a fixture on the London social scene, with a penchant for celebrity girlfriends, who hooked up with Jefferson Hack's Dazed group to produce a Russian edition of Dazed & Confused.
It's a rumour that has been floating around since before Christmas. But I have to say it can't have been a very firm bid because, if it was, surely the Daily Mail & General Trust - which is a publicly quoted company - would have been duty bound to report the bid to the stock market. Can DMGT chairman Lord Rothermere really make a unilateral decision to turn down a bid for a slice of a publicly quoted company?
There's no doubt DMGT is looking hard at every option for the Standard and its sister London Lite free paper, which are both haemorrhaging money. Former Mail on Sunday advertising director Simon Davies became ad director of the Evening Standard and London Lite in October. Associated Newspapers this morning confirmed further details of Media Week's story from late last year about the restructure of its Evening Standard, London Lite and Metro sales operations.
As I picked up my umbrella from my local Standard vendor in Hammersmith the other day, I did jokingly ask him if I got a free newspaper with it as well. I can add the umbrella to my rucksack, books, mouthwash, Mars Planets and other freebies the Standard has given away over the past year to try and encourage Londoners to buy an evening paper rather than picking up the free London Lite or thelondonpaper.
Of course, if there is truth in the story and the Russian bid for the Evening Standard is indeed serious, no doubt we can expect an announcement to the stock exchange very shortly.
