Conrad Moffat Black: The Rise and Fall of a Media Mogul

Conrad Moffat Black is a Canadian-born British journalist, industrialist, historian and writer. He was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on August 25, 1944. His father is George Montegu Black Jr., who became the president of Canadian Breweries Ltd.

In 1965, Black earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Carleton University. He would later finish law (1970) at Université Laval and earn his master’s degree in history at McGill (1973). Together with his partners David Radler and Peter White, Black acquired several rural newspapers, including L'Avenir de Brome Missisquoi, The Eastern Townships Advertiser, and Sherbrooke Record.

After his father’s death, Black used his inheritance from Ravelston Corporation to purchase the controlling interest of Argus Corporation, including its subsidiary, Hollinger International. Later, Black divested from Argus to purchase several other quality newspaper companies such as the Sydney Morning Herald, The Chicago Sun Times, the Jerusalem Post and the London Daily Telegraph. Later in 1992, Black took over Southam Inc., a chain of Canadian newspapers.

Black gave up his Canadian citizenship in 2001 to accept the title of Baron offered to him by the British government. He was inducted as Lord Black of Crossharbour into the House of Lords.

For the consideration of $3.2 billion, Black dealt his Canadian newspaper chain to its competitor, CanWest Media. After the deal, Black was fired as chairman of Hollinger following allegations of fraud. In 2005, his partner Radler cooperated with the US authorities in plea bargain agreement. Black was charged with obstruction of justice and fraud, primarily because of Radler’s testimony. His sentence was imprisonment for 78 months.

He appealed his case to the US Supreme Court. In July 2010, he bailed out of prison. A review was conducted of his obstruction of justice case. After the review, his original sentence of 78 months was changed to 42 months. He served his sentence and was released from Federal Correctional Institution Miami in April 2012.