The financial world reeled yesterday over Canadian-born newspaper baron Conrad
Black's admission that he and his senior executive received millions
of dollars of unauthorized payments.
The fiasco, involving improper payments of $32.2 million, will see
Black step down as CEO of U.S.-based Hollinger International Inc.,
Black's empire broken up and sold, and the money repaid
with interest.
Black's properties -- which include The Daily Telegraph in Britain,
the Chicago Sun-Times and the Jerusalem Post -- were put
into the hands of an investment bank to explore bids
for the whole company or individual papers.
The controversial, imperious and often boastful Black now faces the
breakup of an empire he has spent 35 years creating.
And -- as his British newspaper rivals put it in
yesterday's headlines-- he will suffer the "ignominy," the shame, of
losing his chain.
But Black, who remains as chair of Hollinger's board, still
controls the majority of the publicly traded Hollinger.
And he is the man who changed the face of
Canadian newspapering as founder of The National Post, the irreverent,
cheeky daily that started a newspaper war. It would be
foolish to write him off, media observers say. Source.
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