An audacious effort by the American media executive Jeff Zucker and his Emirati backers to acquire London’s Daily Telegraph appeared to be on life support on Wednesday after the British government advanced legislation that would bar foreign state ownership of newspapers and newsmagazines. The move by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would torpedo Mr. Zucker’s bid in its current form, which relies heavily on financing from investment partners in the United Arab Emirates. Mr. Zucker’s media venture company, RedBird IMI, can now try to salvage its bid for the publications by finding new investors and diluting the Emiratis’ majority stake to a level allowed under the government’s proposed rules. “We are extremely disappointed by today’s development,” a RedBird IMI spokeswoman said. “To date, RedBird IMI has made six investments across the U.K. and U.S., and we believed the U.K.’s media environment was worthy of further investment.” The company added that it “will now evaluate our next steps.”
