Northern & Shell wins Express race

OK! publisher Richard Desmond with his new titles

The publisher buying Express Newspapers has media interests that span from soft-porn magazines to celebrity gossip.

Richard Desmond publishes a mix of titles through Northern & Shell and its sister company Portland Investments.

Its flagship title is celebrity gossip magazine OK!, which is said to have paid £1m for pictures of Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas's wedding.

But the private company's principal source of revenue is porn titles, which include such magazines as Penthouse and Asian Babes.

Cloakroom days

Born in London in 1951, Richard Desmond left school at 13 to become a cloakroom attendant.

He spent much of his early career selling advertising.

Mr Desmond's first publishing venture, International Musician, was launched in 1974.

In 1983, he did a deal with the publisher of Penthouse, agreeing to produce a British edition.

His interests also include television, where he markets the Fantasy Channel, which he set up in 1995.

He launched OK! in 1993, as a rival to then market leader Hello.

Exclusive

Paying high prices for exclusive celebrity pictures such as the Zeta Jones and Douglas wedding helped OK! become the market leader.

While Mr Desmond may have no experience of running a national newspaper, he has plenty of experience of making money from publishing.

Moving into the business has proved to be very profitable for Mr Desmond, netting him a place in the Sunday Times Rich List.

He is now expected to float Northern & Shell, a move which could value the company at £500m.