Jeff Zucker Poised to Reenter Media Space

Jeff Zucker, former CNN president, has neared an agreement to acquire The Daily Telegraph, an influential conservative newspaper in the U.K., and sister publication The Spectator, a similarly right-leaning magazine.

Zucker’s RedBird IMI bid around $1.4 billion for the publications, which went up for auction after their owner, the Barclay family, defaulted on a loan.

The New York Times reported that Zucker’s deal for the publications is not final.

CNN fired Zucker last year after he failed to disclose a relationship with Allison Gollust, who was CNN’s executive VP and chief marketing officer.

According to published reports, Zucker is eyeing an expansion of the U.K. publications into the U.S. He plans to remain in New York, and will not oversee day-to-day news coverage, focusing instead on strategy.

Zucker took over as CNN Worldwide president in 2013. Earlier in his career, he was an executive producer on Today and on NBC Nightly News, and then was NBC Entertainment president before he was named president and CEO of NBC Universal. He held the latter position from 2007 to 2011.