Former Mirror editor Piers Morgan has described his 2005 decision to invest in Press Gazette together with PR man Matthew Freud as one of the worst investments of his life — along with his purchase of £67,000 worth of Viglen shares before the Mirror’s City Slickers column tipped the stock.
Morgan told the Sunday Times: “We revitalised the magazine and transformed the British Press Awards into a great event again. The only problem was that many of my old Fleet Street mates decided to knife us squarely in the back, for which I will be eternally ungrateful”
Morgan lost about £250,000 on the Press Gazette venture, he told the Sunday Times.
Morgan and Freud bought Press Gazette from Quantum Business Media in early 2005. Press Gazette Ltd, the company Morgan and Freud owned, went into administration in late 2006. Press Gazette magazine closed for one week before it was reopened by new owners Wilmington Media, now Wilmington Business Information.
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