Former KGB Agent Buys Newspapers for $1.50

Ex-KGB agent Alexander Lebedev became the owner of Britain’s The Independent and The Independent on Sunday newspapers after months of negotiations.

The purchase was concluded for the price of one pound (about $1.50). Lebedev now owns three newspapers, after acquiring 75 percent of Evening Standard last January.

The previous owner of the latest two additions, the Dublin-based Independent News & Media will pay to Lebedev $13.7 million for investments over the next 10 months.

According to the deal, the new media tycoon will take over all of the papers’ debts. In 2009 alone, the two British papers lost $18.3 million, after their circulation plunged to less than 100,000 copies a day. The bargain is expected to be finalized in May.