(London) The Guardian Media Group (GMG), parent company of the famous daily of the same name, announced on Tuesday that it was in negotiations to sell the British newspaper The Observerthe oldest Sunday publication in the world, which he had owned for over 30 years.
GMG “is in formal negotiations for the potential sale of The Observer » with Tortoise Media, a news website founded in 2019, announced The Guardian on its website.
While the newspaper did not specify the amount envisaged for this sale, Tortoise Media made an offer “large enough” to be examined in detail and which “would help [le titre] to preserve its future.”
This opportunity would also allow the Guardian “to focus on its growth strategy to become more international, more digital and even more reader-funded,” commented Anna Bateson, GMG’s chief executive.
Founded in 1791, The Observer was bought by the Guardian Media Group in 1993. It is the “oldest Sunday newspaper” in the world, according to Guinness World Records.
GMG reported results for its staggered full-year financial year on Tuesday, seeing revenue from digital players rise 8% to £88.2 million (C$154 million), with more than 56% coming from outside the UK.
But the group, which is investing in particular in its publications in the United States and continental Europe, saw its total turnover fall by 2.5% to 257.8 million pounds (463 million Canadian dollars) due to “a slowdown in the advertising market and structural pressures weighing on the written press”.
Tortoise plans to invest more than £25 million (C$45 million) in The Observer over the next five years. It will continue to publish the newspaper on Sundays and will develop its digital side, it said in a statement on its website.
“We believe that The Observer “is one of the biggest names in news. We believe passionately in its future, both in print and digital,” said James Harding, editor-in-chief of Tortoise, in a statement.
Tortoise Media was launched by Mr Harding, a former editor-in-chief of Times and the BBC, with Matthew Barzun, former US ambassador to the UK.