Rothermere, Vere Harold Esmond Harmsworth, 3rd Viscount Rothermere (1925-1998)

British newspaper proprietor. He became chair of Associated Newspapers in 1971, controlling the right-wing Daily Mail (founded by his great-uncle Lord Northcliffe) and Mail on Sunday (launched in 1982), the London Evening Standard, and a string of regional newspapers.

In that year he closed the Daily Sketch and successfully transformed the Daily Mail into a tabloid. In 1977 he closed the London Evening News with heavy loss of jobs, but obtained a half-share of the more successful Evening Standard, and gained control of the remainder in 1985. He was created viscount in 1978.