Britain's Daily and Sunday Telegraph are likely to be up for sale as their secretive billionaire owners take stock of their assets.

Twin brothers David and Frederick Barclay - who also own the Spectator magazine, delivery company Yodel and e-commerce site Shop Direct including Littlewoods and Very - have already put the Ritz hotel on the market.

Last year profits from Telegraph Media Group - which they bought in 2004 - fell 94 per cent to GBP£900,000 (A$1.69 million) while print circulations have also plummeted to today's 310,586 and 244,351 average net sales.

The BBC reported a source that while the brothers were under no time pressure to sell TMG, it was likely to be the first asset sold.

It says sons Aidan (63) and Howard (59) are thought to be evaluating the family's businesses on behalf of the twin brothers who are 84, and that there are "differing views" about the future of the business.

There are suggestions that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos - who owns the Washington Post - and Evening Standard proprietor Evgeny Lebedev have expressed an interest in the past, and that DMG would also be a contender.

Twins David and Frederick are famously private, owning a castellated island between Guernsey and Sark at which visitors are not welcome, as well as homes in Monaco