David Montgomery (newspaper executive)

David Montgomery (6 November 1948, Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland) is a British newspaper editor, executive, proprietor and media investor.

Montgomery was born in Northern Ireland, and attended Down High 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]

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 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]

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".^[2]

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.^[3] 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 the sale and voicing concerns over the direction the new shareholders would take the publications.^[4]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} Robinson (2006)
2. ^ Boxhall (1999).
3. ^ Brook (2005), Elkins and Burrell (2006)
4. ^ Elkins and Burrell (2006)

References

• Boxhall, Sarah (1999, January 26). "Montgomery quits Mirror". BBC News Online (British Broadcasting Corporation). http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/the_company_file/262585.stm. Retrieved 2008-08-19. 
• Brook, Stephen (2005, October 25). "Montgomery concludes German publisher deal". The Guardian (Guardian Media Group). http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/oct/25/pressandpublishing.business. Retrieved 2008-08-19. 
• Elkins, Ruth; and Ian Burrell (2006, June 5). "David Montgomery: They never saw him coming". The Independent (Independent News & Media). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/david-montgomery-they-never-saw-him-coming-481099.html. Retrieved 2008-08-19. 
• Robinson, James (2006, April 16). "Montgomery marshals European titles for attack on British newspaper market". The Observer (Guardian Media Group). http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/apr/16/pressandpublishing.business. Retrieved 2008-08-19. 

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Preceded by Nicholas Lloyd	Editor of the News of the World 1985–1987	Succeeded by Wendy Henry
Preceded by Dennis Hackett	Editor of Today 1987–1991	Succeeded by Martin Dunn

Persondata
Name	Montgomery, David
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Date of birth	6 November 1948
Place of birth
Date of death
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