Murdoch MacLennan, group managing director of Associated Newspapers, has been lured by the Telegraph’s new owners, the Barclay brothers.
He will take charge of a process of rationalisation at The Daily and Sunday Telegraph that will include a significant number of job losses.
A source at Associated revealed that the company was resigned to losing MacLennan, who will become chief executive of Telegraph Newspapers. An announcement is expected this week.
It is understood that the Barclays have been wooing 54-year-old MacLennan for a month, but have now persuaded him to join the new Telegraph board. The secretive twins, who live on the remote island of Brequou in the Channel Islands, secured the Telegraph titles last month after a six-month battle. They have promised some “high profile signings”.
A source close to the Barclays said: “We are 95% certain we have got him, but we are also aware that Associated are like a puppy with a slipper when it comes to holding on to their own.”
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However, sources at Associated last night said: “We are sorry to lose him, but we are not surprised the Telegraph has come calling because of the talent that was at the group. There is more new talent coming through.”
Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay already own The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and The Business. The editor-in-chief of those newspapers will remain Andrew Neil, a former editor of The Sunday Times.
Neil was not offered the combined job of chief executive and editor-in-chief and therefore will not play a part in the day-to-day running of the Telegraph titles. Instead, he will remain in charge of the other Scottish titles and continue his job as a political presenter for the BBC.
But a round of job losses is expected at the Telegraph. When they took over the Scotsman the Barclays embarked on a process which saw significant costs stripped out of the operation — a move which has helped make the papers more profitable. Sources within the Barclays empire say that The Sunday Telegraph is likely to need the most attention.
MacLennan’s background in newspapers has been printing but his record with the Mail and Mail on Sunday has been such that Associated would be loath to lose him.
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However, tensions did erupt when Daily Mail and General Trust Group (DMGT), owner of Associated Newspapers, bid for the Telegraph titles. The titles were put up for sale after owner Lord Black was revealed to have taken money out of the group illegally.
MacLennan, who has held his position at Associated since 1994, wanted DMGT to bid high for the titles. In the end DMGT pulled out of the bidding. The Barclays paid £665m for the titles, considered by experts to be a high price.