US investment firm Redbird plans to buy Britain's Telegraph newspaper
RedBird said it has reached an agreement in principle to become the controlling owner of the Telegraph Media Group, ending a lengthy takeover saga for the conservative-leaning newspaper.
Gerry Cardinale, founder and managing partner of RedBird, said the sale 'marks the start of a new era for The Telegraph, as we look to grow the brand in the UK and internationally, invest in its technology and expand its subscriber base.'
The Telegraph group, previously owned by Britain's Barclay family, was put up for sale two years ago to help pay off the family's debts. It publishes the daily and Sunday Telegraph newspapers and weekly newsmagazine The Spectator, which are all closely allied to Britain's Conservative Party.
In 2023, there was an offer to buy the publications from RedBird IMI, a consortium backed by RedBird Capital Partners and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi's royal family and the vice president of the United Arab Emirates.
However, the consortium pulled out last year following strong opposition from the UK government, which launched legislation to block foreign state ownership of the British press.
Under the deal, Abu Dhabi's IMI will take a minority stake of not more than 15% in the Telegraph as a member of the consortium. The sale must be approved by British regulators.
RedBird has investments in soccer team AC Milan, the parent company of Liverpool football club and film production company Skydance.
Telegraph Media Group chief executive Anna Jones said that 'RedBird Capital Partners have exciting growth plans that build on our success — and will unlock our full potential across the breadth of our business.'
The Spectator was sold separately in September to British hedge fund investor Paul Marshall.
When talking about your salary in Europe, do you refer to the gross amount or the net figure? It's an important distinction as take-home pay can vary significantly from one country to another.
The main reasons for these differences are variations in taxation and social security contributions. In some countries, family allowances also have a considerable impact.
So, where do workers take home the most pay across Europe? And how much of your gross salary do you keep after taxes and deductions?
The answer largely depends on whether you have dependent children and if your partner earns an income. In several countries, this can make you eligible for family allowances or even tax refunds. With this in mind, Euronews has examined three typical scenarios for 2024.
These scenarios are based on individuals earning 100% of the average national wage. For those earning more or less than the average, the take-home ratio will differ accordingly.
Net earnings represent the amount a person or household keeps after subtracting taxes and employee social security contributions from gross pay, and adding any family benefits for dependent children.
In 2024, according to Eurostat, a single person without children in the EU takes home, on average, 68.6% of their gross salary. This means that if the average salary in your country is €1,000, you keep €686, while €314 goes to taxes and social security contributions.
Among 31 countries—including all EU member states plus Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Turkey—the take-home pay ratio (annual net earnings as a percentage of gross earnings) ranged from just 60.3% in Belgium to 84.4% in Cyprus.
Seven countries offered less than two-thirds of gross pay as take-home income. Besides Belgium, they included: Lithuania (61.8%), Germany (62.6%), Romania (63.1%), Denmark (64.3%), Slovenia (64.4%) and Hungary (66.5%).
In ten countries, workers can take home at least three-quarters (75%) of their gross earnings, making them the best places in Europe for higher net pay.
The ratio exceeds 80% in Cyprus and Switzerland. Other countries on the list include Estonia (79.5%), Czechia (79%), Bulgaria (77.6%), Spain (77.5%), Sweden (76.9%), Slovakia and Poland (both 75.9%), and Portugal (75%).
By comparison, the take-home rate is 71.9% in France and 69.6% in Italy.
For one-earner couples with two children, take-home pay ratios shift significantly in some countries, while in others they stay close to the level for single individuals without children.
Across the EU, the average take-home rate is 82.6%, ranging from 70.4% in Romania to 107.1% in Slovakia, followed by 102.5% in Poland. In these two countries, net earnings actually exceed gross earnings. This is not only due to family allowances but also the implementation of a 'negative income tax,' which provides extra financial support and reflects strong family-friendly policies.
The ratio is also above 90% in Switzerland, Czechia, Luxembourg, and Portugal. At the lower end, aside from Romania, it falls below 75% in Turkey, Denmark, and Finland.
The largest increases compared to single individuals without children were seen in Slovakia (+31.2 percentage points), Poland (+26.6 pp), Luxembourg (+22.4 pp), and Belgium (+19.8 pp).
The rate remained unchanged in Turkey, while the smallest increases were recorded in Greece (+2.4 pp), Cyprus (+4.3 pp), Finland (+4.6 pp), Norway (+4.8 pp), and Sweden (+5.9 pp).
On average, a two-earner couple with two children in the EU takes home 73.6% of their gross earnings, with the rate ranging from 65.8% in Belgium to 88.9% in Slovakia.
Compared to single individuals without children, the take-home rate remains unchanged in Turkey and Greece. The highest increase was recorded in Slovakia, at 13 percentage points.
In only eight countries, the rise exceeded 5 percentage points, suggesting that family allowances for households with children often do not lead to a significant boost in take-home pay.
Would you be more interested in actual salary figures rather than just ratios?
In 2024, in the EU, a single person without children earning 100% of the average salary takes home €29,573 out of a gross €43,105.
Switzerland is an outlier in both gross and net salaries, with figures exceeding €100,000 and €85,000 respectively.
In this scenario, annual net earnings exceeded €50,000 in Iceland and Luxembourg, while Bulgaria (€11,074) and Turkey (€11,440) recorded the lowest net salaries.
In five additional countries, net earnings surpassed the €40,000 mark, including the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Ireland, and Austria.
Annual net earnings for a one-earner couple with two children ranged from €11,440 in Turkey to €98,835 in Switzerland, while the EU average was €35,656.
In the two-earner couple with two children scenario, net earnings or salaries ranged from €22,880 in Turkey to €178,553 in Switzerland, with the EU average at €63,523.
All these actual figures also indicate the level of income inequality across Europe. For a detailed comparison of annual net earnings—including purchasing power standards—across Europe, check out our full article, entitled: "Top earners in Europe"
Curious about how real wages changed in 2024 compared to 2023? Our article 'Where Did Real Wages Rise and Fall the Most in Europe in 2024?' takes a closer look at the shifts—adjusted for inflation.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
LeMonde
4 hours ago
- LeMonde
'If a dictator issued a call for tenders to reopen gulags, some consulting firms would be ready to bid'
The British daily Financial Times revealed in early July that Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a major consulting firm, had carried out an assignment for an American security company, commissioned by an Israeli think tank, on the "reconstruction of Gaza." The study discussed the displacement of 500,000 Palestinians and assessed proposals – if one dares call them that – to make to Gazans, weighing which would be most effective: $9,000 in cash or $5,000 and four years of rent. A plan conceived without the residents, for a reconstruction without the survivors, billed at several million dollars. BCG apologized, fired those responsible, and gave up its fee. That might have been enough, if not for the countless deaths, horrors and suffering. We could pretend to forget the McKinsey controversy in the United States, in which the consulting firm recommended increasing opioid dosages to drive up prices. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people from overdoses. Once again, the firm expressed its "deep" regrets and, in 2024, reached a settlement of nearly a billion dollars to avoid litigation. Those fond of calculations will appreciate the irony. We could settle for these acts of contrition. A moment of nausea, before moving on. But it would be more useful to ask what makes these scandals possible. Like all businesses, consulting firms have "processes." No one is staffed on a project without approval. No new client is accepted without a risk analysis. No work is done outside the rules of deontology. Poorly known codes These rules do exist: Some firms refuse to work for the sex, gambling, or tobacco industries, others avoid certain countries. All of them establish "Chinese walls," supposedly protecting against conflicts of interest. But unlike regulated professions (lawyers or certified public accountants) or those with formal codes (like journalists), these rules are rarely published and often little known even to the consultants themselves. Everything depends on self-regulation.
Euronews
5 hours ago
- Euronews
Trumps tees off in Scotland amid nationwide protests
US President Donald Trump played golf on Saturday at his course in Scotland while citizens around the country took to the streets to protest his visit. Trump and his son Eric played with the US ambassador to Britain, Warren Stephens, near Turnberry, a historic course that the Trump family's company took over in 2008. Hundreds of protesters gathered on the cobblestone and tree-lined street in front of the US Consulate about 160 kilometres away in Edinburgh, Scotland's capital. Speakers on a makeshift stage told the crowd that Trump was not welcome and they criticized British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for striking a recent trade deal to avoid stiff US tariffs on goods imported from the UK. Protests were planned in other cities as environmental activists, opponents of Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza and pro-Ukraine groups loosely formed a 'Stop Trump Coalition." 'I think there are far too many countries that are feeling the pressure of Trump and that they feel that they have to accept him and we should not accept him here,' said June Osbourne, 52, a photographer and photo historian from Edinburgh who protested wearing a red cloak and white hood, recalling "The Handmaid's Tale." Osbourne held up picture of Trump with 'Resist' stamped over his face. The dual-US-Scottish citizen said the Republican president was "the worst thing that has happened to the world, the US, in decades.' Saturday's protests were not nearly as large as the throngs that came out across Scotland when Trump played at the resort during his first term in 2018. But bagpipes played, people chanted 'Trump Out!' and raised homemade signs that said 'No red carpet for dictators," 'We don't want you here' and 'Stop Trump. Migrants welcome.' Some on the far right took to social media to call for gatherings supporting Trump in places such as Glasgow. While in Scotland, Trump is set to talk trade with Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president.
LeMonde
19 hours ago
- LeMonde
UK condemns Hong Kong's reward offers for pro-democracy activists living in Britain
The UK on Friday, July 25, condemned Hong Kong authorities for offering payment in exchange for assisting in the arrest of pro-democracy activists living in Britain. "The Hong Kong Police Force's issuing of further arrest warrants and bounties on individuals living in the UK is another example of transnational repression," Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a joint statement. Hong Kong authorities announced Friday that they are offering cash rewards for information leading to the arrest of 19 pro-democracy activists based abroad, accused of violating the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020. The bounties range from about $25,000 (HK$200,000) to $125,000, depending on the individual Hong Kong seeks. This is the fourth time Hong Kong authorities have made this type of appeal, which has already drawn strong criticism from Western countries, which China, in turn, has denounced as "interference." In their statement, Lammy and Cooper called on China to stop targeting opposition voices in Britain. Around 150,000 Hong Kong nationals migrated to the UK under a special visa scheme introduced in 2021. But a recent proposal by the British government to reform extradition rules has sparked serious concerns, with some fearing it could pave the way for a resumption of extraditions to Hong Kong, which have been suspended since the 2020 national security law was enacted. In their statement, the two British ministers said "this Government will continue to stand with the people of Hong Kong, including those who have made the UK their home. We take the protection of their rights, freedoms, and safety very seriously."
