Conrad Black is chairman of Hollinger International and has owned the Daily Telegraph since 1987. He bought his first newspaper at the age of 22 and eventually owned a string of papers across North America. Now his publishing empire is worth around $3bn-a-year and encompasses 437 titles.
In 1985 he bought into the ailing Telegraph and had total control within six months. Within four years he had put the papers into profit.
In 1999 he was invited to join the House of Lords as a life peer which would make him the fourth Canadian press baron to make it to Westminster.
But the honour was blocked by the Canadian government due to a resolution dating back to 1919 preventing its citizens from accepting awards from foreign governments.
Conrad Black is an advocate of re-negotiating Britain's relationship with Europe and joining Nafta.
He is chairman of the advisory board for The National Interest Washington DC and a member of the International Advisory Board of The Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
