The UK Guardian newspaper’s parent company has announced that it is in formal negotiations with Tortoise Media over the potential sale of the Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper.The UK Guardian newspaper’s parent company has announced that it is in formal negotiations with Tortoise Media over the potential sale of the Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper.
Observer staff were told the offer from Tortoise represented a significant investment in the title as a stand-alone product that would help safeguard its future.The Guardian Media Group chief executive, Anna Bateson, said: “This is an exciting strategic opportunity for the Guardian Media Group. It provides a chance to build the Observer’s future position with a significant investment and allow the Guardian to focus on its growth strategy to be more global, more digital and more reader-funded.
Tortoise said in a statement it planned to continue to publish the Observer on a Sunday and build the digital Observer, combining with Tortoise’s podcasts, newsletters and live events. It said it planned to invest more than £25 million over the next five years in the title. GMG made the announcement as it published statutory accounts showing that Guardian News and Media, its main subsidiary, had grown global digital reader revenue by 8% to £88.2m in the 2023-24 financial year.