British media executive (born 1948)
David Montgomery
(born 6 November 1948) is a Northern Irish media executive, proprietor and media investor. He has also edited two tabloid newspapers during the course of his career.
Early life and career
[
edit
]
Montgomery was born in
Bangor
in
County Down
,
Northern Ireland
, and attended
Bangor Grammar School
and
Queen's University
in
Belfast
, where he studied history and politics and edited the student magazine
The Gown
.
[1]
In 1973 he joined the staff on the
Daily Mirror
, one of the
UK
's large-circulation
tabloids
. He became chief
sub-editor
in 1978. two years later he moved over to the rival publication,
The Sun
.
[1]
Newspaper editor
[
edit
]
Montgomery was later
editor
of
News of the World
from 1985 to 1987. He then became director of
News (UK) Limited
, a subsidiary of
News International
owned by
Rupert Murdoch
's
News Corporation
. Between 1987 and 1991, Montgomery was editor of the
Today
newspaper, by then owned by Murdoch.
Between 1992 and 1999 he served as chief executive of
Mirror Group plc
?publishers of the
Daily Mirror
and other national titles and a range of regional titles?following the death of its previous owner
Robert Maxwell
in 1991. During his tenure as Mirror Group CEO Montgomery oversaw a number of changes, including taking a stake in
The Independent
and its sister-paper
The Independent on Sunday
.
[1]
At the time, he was nicknamed "Rommel" by staff because "Montgomery was on our side".
[2]
Early in 1999 Montgomery stepped down from the Mirror Group CEO role after some well-publicised running disagreements with the boardroom and the non-executive chairman
Sir Victor Blank
, and after a period for the company described by some commentators as "crisis-hit".
[3]
Later career
[
edit
]
In 2000 Montgomery founded
Mecom Group
, a London-based
investment company
that would specialise in
mergers and acquisitions
of
newspaper
and
media
companies in
continental Europe
. Mecom embarked on a series of European magazine and newspaper acquisition deals, including the 2005 purchase of
Berliner Verlag
, publisher of
Berliner Zeitung
and
Berliner Kurier
. The acquisition was made in partnership with the American
private equity firm
and media broker
Veronis Suhler Stevenson
, part-financed with credit loans. Montgomery and his equity partners thereby became the first foreign owners of a
German
publishing group.
[4]
The sale generated a degree of controversy among some German media observers, with a number of journalists and staff at Berliner Verlag's titles protesting against the sale and voicing concerns over the direction the new shareholders would take the publications.
[5]
In 2012, Montgomery formed Local World Limited, and acquired a number of regional papers which were later sold to Trinity Mirror (now known as
Reach plc
),
[6]
with Montgomery going on to form a new company called National World.
In 2020, Montgomery's National World company bought
JPIMedia
, publisher of
The Scotsman
and
The Yorkshire Post
, in a £10m deal which also included many other local newspapers.
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
In 2021, Montgomery (as chairman of
Local Television Limited
)
[14]
[15]
launched a rival to channel 7 Freeview service
That's TV
in Manchester on channel 99 and outlined plans for a new 'Northern TV Network' which would include Local TV's channels in
Liverpool
,
Leeds
and Newcastle.
[16]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Montgomery is married to the painter
The Hon.
Sophie Montgomery.
[
citation needed
]
She is the daughter of
The 3rd Baron Birdwood
and ex-wife of
The 3rd Earl of Woolton
.
[17]
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Media offices
|
Preceded by
|
Editor of the
News of the World
1985–1987
|
Succeeded by
|
Preceded by
|
Editor of
Today
1987–1991
|
Succeeded by
|