Media mogul and billionaire Sir David Barclay passed away at the age of 86

The British billionaire and owner of

newspapers, Sir David Barclay, died on Sunday after a short illness at the age of 86.

Barclay built a large empire of companies with his brother Frederick.

His death was announced on Tuesday by his own newspaper

.

The twin brothers were inseparable from each other and were known in the British media as the Barclay Brothers.

Together they were worth an estimated 7 billion pounds (7.8 billion euros).

Barclay lived a secluded life and seldom showed himself in public.

"Privacy is very valuable. There is no reason for us to talk about our business," he said earlier to a journalist from his own newspaper

.

Barclay made his fortune from an early age with transportation and retail companies.

In 1992 he bought the newspaper

together with his brother

.

In the following years, the Barclay Brothers continued to expand their media empire.

In 2004 they bought The Telegraph Group (now Telegraph Media Group) for over £ 665 million (EUR 744 million).

They thus became direct owners of the newspapers

,

and

.

David and Frederick Barclay were knighted by the British Queen Elizabeth in 2000 and have since held the title of Sir.