Rothermere of Hemsted, Vere Harold Esmond Harmsworth, 3rd Viscount

▪ 1999

      British media mogul (b. Aug. 27, 1925, London, Eng.—d. Sept. 1, 1998, London), was one of Great Britain's last press barons; he orchestrated a series of bold moves that revived his family's Associated Newspapers and made the company's flagship, the Daily Mail, a must read. After undistinguished academic and military careers, Vere Harmsworth joined (1951) the promotional department at Associated Newspapers. Once a dominating presence among British dailies, the company had already begun to lose money when he was made vice-chairman in 1963. He assumed control of his father's newspaper empire in 1970, when the elder Harmsworth began suffering with Alzheimer's disease. Nicknamed "Mere Vere," he quickly proved otherwise, with a number of daring and decisive moves. He closed down the Daily Sketch and changed the Daily Mail into a tabloid aimed at young professional women and the growing middle class. Within a year, circulation climbed, eventually surpassing the competition and forcing the rival Express to adopt a similar format. While other newspapers underwent cutbacks and layoffs, Rothermere—he succeeded his father as the 3rd Viscount Rothermere in 1978—hired more reporters and invested heavily in his papers. In 1982 he launched Mail on Sunday and four years later took control of the London Evening Standard. Rothermere exhibited an uncanny grasp of the newspaper market. When his monopoly of evening dailies was threatened in 1987 by Robert Maxwell, he revived the defunct Evening News and lowered its price until Maxwell's paper was forced to close. By the mid-1990s, Associated Newspapers' holdings were valued at $1.7 billion. Rothermere also headed the parent corporation, Daily Mail and General Trust PLC, which held educational publications and radio stations, among other interests.

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