The owner of the Mirror newspapers has sealed a £127m deal with Richard Desmond to buy his Express and Star national titles, as well as celebrity magazine OK!
Trinity Mirror, which also owns a large regional newspaper portfolio including the Manchester Evening News and Birmingham Post, employs more than 5,300 staff. About 2,200 of those are in editorial, with 700 of the editorial staff employed on the national titles and 1,500 on the regionals.
The deal marks the end of billionaire Desmond’s 43-year publishing career, which started in 1974 when he was 23 with two music titles.
In 1983, he won the UK licence to publish Penthouse and then a number of other pornographic titles, including Asian Babes and Horny Housewives. The launch of OK! in 1993 shook up the celebrity magazine world. In 2000, Desmond announced himself as a national newspaper magnate by buying Express Newspapers for £125m.