Toksvig back in UK after US OK! launch

by Media Week, Media Week 11-Jul-06

Christian Toksvig, the Northern & Shell executive who oversaw the US launch of celebrity weekly OK!, has quit the US. It is understood he will be working on Express Newspapers' bid to distribute a free London paper.

Toksvig, who previously worked on Associated Newspapers' Metro, will be
returning to Britain just as OK! US celebrates its first birthday. He
told the New York Post that he would be overseeing the international

editions of OK!, including North America.

The paper also claimed Toksvig had been brought back to help develop a
free afternoon title which Express owner Richard Desmond is hoping to
launch in the spring.

The battle for the London afternoon market is expected to intensify over
the coming weeks, with Network Rail due to announce the successful
bidder of its online auction within days.

News International is considered the hot favourite to take the contract,
but several publishers, including Express Newspapers, News International
and Associated Newspapers, have also registered their interest.

Another bid is believed to have come from two former Financial Times
employees. It has been reported recently that Richard Addis, the paper's
former design editor, was looking at the potential of a new London
paper.