• by Ray Schultz , September 18, 2024

Guardian Media Group, parent company of The Guardian, is in talks to sell The Observer, a Sunday newspaper dating back to 1791, to Tortoise Media, a digital publisher founded in 2019. 

GMG told staff that Tortoise had approached it with “an offer that was significant enough to look at in more detail,” The Guardian reports. 

Tortoise has said it will invest £25 million in The Observer over the next five years, and that it will continue to publish it on Sunday. 

There was no information on the possible price. But GMG feels a sale would help both companies. 

 “This is an exciting strategic opportunity for the Guardian Media Group,” says Anna Bateson, chief executive of GMG. “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.”

GMG reported earlier this week that its revenue for the year has fallen by 2.5% YoY to £257.8 million, which it blamed on a market slowdown in advertising and structural pressures on print. 

The company says it will maintain The Guardian, which also has a U.S. edition, as a seven-day-a-week digital operation with or without the sale. The company acquired The Observer in 1993. 

Tortoise Media was founded by James Harding, who has served as director of BBC News and editor of The Times of London; and Matthew Barzun, former U.S. ambassador to Britain.