The Toronto-based holding company said it now awaits a decision by the board of its estranged affiliate, Hollinger International Inc, as to how proceeds from the $1.2 billion sale of the Telegraph to British entrepreneurs David and Frederick Barclay will be used.
"While we are disappointed that the courts failed to provide Hollinger International shareholders the opportunity to determine if a sale of the Telegraph was in their best interest, we wish the new owners of the Telegraph Group well," Hollinger Inc said.
Black, a media mogul and member of Britain's House of Lords, is embroiled in a bitter battle with Chicago-based Hollinger over disputed payments he received when he ran the company.
He resigned under pressure as chief executive in November, but he remains controlling shareholder through Hollinger Inc's roughly two-thirds voting control.
The denial of the appeal comes one day after a Delaware Chancery Court judge rejected Black's attempt to make Hollinger International's sale of the Telegraph contingent on a shareholder vote.
In the ruling Thursday, Judge Leo Strine rejected Hollinger Inc's argument that the Telegraph deal would strip Hollinger International of substantially all of its assets, requiring a shareholder vote under Delaware corporate law.
"The Telegraph sale does not strike at (Hollinger) International's heart or soul, if that corporation can be thought to have either one," Strine wrote in the strongly worded, 93-page ruling.
Hollinger International announced early Friday it had closed the sale to the Barclays as planned. It said it used some of the proceeds to pay off debt and it was also considering a special dividend to shareholders or a stock buyback with the rest.
The publishing company still faces problems with its remaining newspapers. The Chicago Sun-Times is under pressure from advertisers over inflated circulation data and the Jerusalem Post has undergone a management shake-up.