Guardian Media Group plc is a British based mass media company owning various media operations including The Guardian and The Observer. The group is wholly owned by Scott Trust Limited, which exists to secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian in perpetuity. The Group's 2018 annual report indicated that its owner, the Scott Trust Endowment Fund, reported a value of £1.01 billion.
History
The company was founded as the Manchester Guardian Ltd. in 1907 when C. P. Scott bought the Manchester Guardian from the estate of his cousin Edward Taylor. It became the Manchester Guardian and Evening News Ltd when it bought out the Manchester Evening News in 1924, later becoming the Guardian and Manchester Evening News Ltd to reflect the change in the morning paper's title. It adopted its current name in 1993. In 1991 it had a 20% stake in a consortium which included LWT, STV, The Walt Disney Company and Carlton Communications for a new ITV breakfast franchise called GMTV Guardian Monthly was a glossy magazine published by the Guardian Media Group for readers around the world. Launched in November 2006, it made selections from The Guardian and The Observer’s magazine supplements available to an international audience of English-speakers. Issues contained interviews with cultural figures, features about world issues, and regular articles on travel, books, sport, health, fashion, food and photography. In July 2007, the Guardian Media Group announced the cancellation of the Guardian Monthly. In a letter to subscribers, Will Ricketts, Guardian Monthly's publisher, explained the reasons for the cancellation of the monthly magazine: In March 2007 GMG sold 49.9% of Trader Media Group to Apax Partners, in a deal that valued Trader Media Group at £1.35 billion. In December 2007 it was announced that GMG and Apax had made a successful bid to buy Emap's business-to-business arm for around £1 billion. In February 2010, the group sold its GMG Regional Media division to Trinity Mirror for £44.8 million. The sale ended the historic connection between The Guardian and Manchester as the sale of the Manchester Evening News was included in the package. The division's local television station for Greater Manchester, Channel M, and two newspapers in Woking were not included in the sale. In June 2012, Global Radio acquired GMG Radio from Guardian Media Group plc. In January 2014, GMG disposed of its remaining interest in Trader Media Group. Carolyn McCall was the chief executive of Guardian Media Group and chair of Guardian News and Media Limited from 2006 until June 2010, when she was appointed chief executive of EasyJet. Andrew Miller, previously the chief financial officer of the Group, was chief executive from July 2010 to 2015. David Pemsel took his place in 2015. In January 2020, it was announced that Annette Thomas would become the new chief executive in March 2020. In October 2017, the Guardian Media Group reported a plan to launch a new £42 million venture capital fund. That plan was consummated, making the Scott Trust a limited partner in GMG Ventures LP. According to the GMG 2018 annual report, "this £42m venture capital fund is designed to contribute financial returns and to support GMG’s strategy by investing in early stage businesses focused on developing the next generation of media technology". In January 2020 GMG announced Annette Thomas, former editor of Nature, MD of Nature Publishing Group and chief executive of Macmillan Science and Education, as its new chief executive. She replaced David Pemsel who left to take up a role at the Premier League.
Group structure
GMG’s core business is Guardian News & Media Limited, publisher of theguardian.com, and The Guardian and The Observer newspapers. Guardian News & Media was formed as Guardian Newspapers Limited in 1967, adopting its present name in 2006. The group has a portfolio of investments to help support its journalism. They comprise:
Ascential: an international business-to-business digital intelligence and events business.
GMG Property Services: a provider of software, technology and design solutions to the property industry.
An externally managed investment fund.
Guardian Media Group exists to support the core purpose of its owner, Scott Trust Limited: to secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian in perpetuity, but in the 2011/12 year the group lost £75.6 million, and for the three years up to June 2012, the paper itself lost £100,000 a day - leading Intelligent Life magazine to question whether The Guardian can survive. In 2014, The Guardian launched a membership scheme, aiming to avoid introducing a paywall and maintaining open access to the website. As of 2018 this approach was considered successful, having brought more than 1 million subscriptions or donations, with the paper hoping to break even by April 2019, a goal they achieved in May 2019.
