Richard Desmond, the owner of the Daily Express and Daily Star, has bought Five Group from entertainment network RTL for €125m (£104m). The deal for Mr Desmond's Northern & Shell company to buy Five, which runs TV channel Five, has been closed with immediate effect.
People who have a view over London generally want to own it
RTL said a recovery in the UK TV advertising market meant now was a good time for it to sell. Last month, Mr Desmond indicated that he wanted to buy the Sun newspaper. "With a significant recovery of the UK TV advertising market and Five performing well in the first half of 2010, we saw a window of opportunity to realise a transaction based on a fair evaluation of Five," said Gerhard Zeiler, chief executive of RTL Group.
Channel Five was first launched in 1997 and is home to popular Australian soaps Neighbours and Home and Away, as well as the Crime Scene Investigation series. Although advertising revenue has picked up this year, the channel was hit hard by the slump in advertising revenue during the downturn. Rival UK broadcaster Channel 4 was reportedly also interested in buying channel Five.
Richard Desmond has had a colourful and controversial career since leaving school at 14 with few academic qualifications. By the age of 21, he owned his own house and two record shops, before acquiring the Express newspaper titles in 2000 with money he had made in the adult entertainment industry.
