Maxwell to Give Up British Post for N.Y. News

British publisher Robert Maxwell intends to retire soon as chairman of Maxwell Communication Corp. to spend more time with his latest acquisition, the New York Daily News, a company spokesman confirmed Monday.

The company made no formal announcement, but the spokesman said a report of Maxwell’s intentions in Monday’s editions of the Financial Times was “substantially accurate.”

Maxwell Communication’s holdings including Pergamon Books and the U.S. publishing and information services concern Macmillan Inc.

An unidentified senior figure in London’s financial district will become non-executive chairman of MCC and Maxwell’s son, Kevin, will become chief executive, the Financial Times said.

Maxwell is stepping down at Maxwell Communication to spend more time in the United States working with the Daily News in New York, which he acquired last week, the Financial Times reported.

It said Maxwell would give up the chairmanship after a public offering of stock in his Mirror Group Newspapers, which owns the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and other newspapers.

The Daily News is not included in the flotation, but Mirror Group Newspapers will have an option to buy the Daily News as soon as it is profitable, the Financial Times reported.