mass media
Mass media include the diverse arrays of media that reach a large audience via mass communication.
Broadcast media transmit information electronically via media such as films, radio, recorded music, or television. Digital media comprises b ...
company owning various media operations including ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', and formerly ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.
In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
''. The group is wholly owned by the
Scott Trust Limited
The Scott Trust Limited is the British limited company that owns Guardian Media Group and thus ''The Guardian'' as well as various other media businesses in the UK. It was created to acquire ''The Guardian'' in 1936, and reorganised as a limited ...
, which exists to secure the financial and editorial independence of ''The Guardian'' in perpetuity.
The Group's annual report (for the year ending 2 April 2023) indicated that the Scott Trust Endowment Fund was valued at £1.24 billion, while in 2021 it was valued at £1.14 billion.
History
The company was founded as the Manchester Guardian Ltd. in 1907 when
C.P. Scott
Charles Prestwich Scott (26 October 1846 – 1 January 1932), usually cited as C. P. Scott, was a British journalist, publisher and politician. Born in Bath, Somerset, he was the editor of ''The Manchester Guardian'' (now ''The Guardian'') ...
bought ''The Manchester Guardian'' (founded in 1821) 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
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00&nbs ...
,
Scottish Television
Scottish Television (now legally known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation si ...
,
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...
and
Carlton Communications
Carlton Communications plc was a British media company. It was led by Michael P. Green and listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1983 until 2 February 2004, when it was bought by Granada plc in a corporate takeover to form ITV plc. Carlton s ...
for a new ITV breakfast franchise called
GMTV
GMTV (an initialism for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ''ITV Breakfast, ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited'', was the name of the national ITV (TV network), ITV breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the Uni ...
.
''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
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' and ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.
In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
''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
Auto Trader Group plc, commonly known as Auto Trader, is a British automotive online marketplace and classified advertising business. Auto Trader is listed on the London Stock Exchange trading under the ticker symbol AUTO, and is a constituen ...
to
Apax Partners
Apax Partners LLP is a British private equity firm, headquartered in London, England. The company also operates out of six other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Munich and Shanghai. As of March 2024, the firm had raised and adv ...
, 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
Ascential (formerly EMAP) was a British-headquartered global company, specialising in events, intelligence and advisory services for the marketing and financial technology industries. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was ac ...
's business-to-business arm for around £1 billion.
In February 2010, the group sold its GMG Regional Media division (consisting of two companies MEN Media and S&B Media which operated 31 local and regional newspaper titles) to
Trinity Mirror
Reach plc (known as Trinity Mirror between 1999 and 2018) is a British newspaper, magazine and digital publisher. It is one of the UK's biggest newspaper groups, publishing 240 regional papers in addition to the national ''Daily Mirror'', '' ...
for £44.8 million. The sale eroded the connection between ''The Guardian'' and Manchester as the sale of the ''
Manchester Evening News
The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 20 ...
'' was included in the package. The division's local television station for Greater Manchester,
Channel M
Channel M was a regional television station in England which broadcast to the Greater Manchester area between 2000 and 2012. The station, originally Manchester Student Television, was owned and operated by the GMG Regional Media division of G ...
, and two newspapers in
Woking
Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...
were not included in the sale.
In June 2012, GMG sold its
GMG Radio
GMG Radio was a company that owned the Real Radio and Smooth Radio networks. As GMG Radio, the company was the radio division of the Guardian Media Group until it was bought in 2012 by Global Radio, however pending regulatory review of the me ...
division, which operated
Real Radio
Real Radio was a network of five regional radio stations broadcasting to North East England, North West England, Scotland, Wales and Yorkshire. Each station broadcasts a mix of local and networked programming. On Tuesday 6 May 2014, the statio ...
and
Smooth Radio Smooth Radio may refer to:
* Smooth Radio (2010), the original national network in the UK
* Smooth Radio (2014)
See also
* Smoothfm
smoothfm is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Nova Entertainment. From original l ...
, to
Global Radio
Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrysal ...
.
In January 2014, GMG disposed of its remaining interest in Trader Media Group.
Carolyn McCall
Dame Carolyn Julia McCall (born 13 September 1961) is a British businesswoman. She was the chief executive of EasyJet from 2010 to 2017.
Early life
McCall was born on 13 September 1961 in Bangalore, India. Her Scottish father, Arthur McCal ...
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
EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airlin ...
. 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 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, it was announced that
Annette Thomas
Annette Thomas (born 1965) is an American-born publishing executive specializing in science publishing, who lives in the United Kingdom. In 2020, she was named chief executive of the Guardian Media Group, but left the role in June 2021.
Early lif ...
would become the new chief executive in March 2020. Thomas was formerly editor of ''
Nature
Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...
'', MD of
Nature Publishing Group
Nature Portfolio (formerly known as Nature Publishing Group and Nature Research) is a division of the international scientific publishing company Springer Nature that publishes academic journals, magazines, online databases, and services in scien ...
David Pemsel
David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament.
The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damas ...
who left to take up a role at the
Premier League
The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
.
In May 2021, ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' reported ''Guardian'' editor
Katharine Viner
Katharine Sophie Viner (born January 1971) is a British journalist and playwright. She became the second state-educated and first female editor-in-chief at ''The Guardian'' on 1 June 2015, succeeding Alan Rusbridger. On 9 June 2021, it was announced that Thomas would leave the Guardian Media Group at the end of the month.
In August 2022, Anna Bateson was appointed as chief executive. Subsequently Anders Jensen, chief executive of
Viaplay
Viaplay is a Swedish video streaming service owned by Viaplay Group.
History
Originally owned by Modern Times Group, it was launched in May 2007 as Viasat On Demand. It was rebranded as Viaplay in 2011. Viaplay released its first origina ...
, resigned as a GMG non-executive director because of the appointment process, in particular the level of influence exerted by ''Guardian'' editor
Katharine Viner
Katharine Sophie Viner (born January 1971) is a British journalist and playwright. She became the second state-educated and first female editor-in-chief at ''The Guardian'' on 1 June 2015, succeeding Alan Rusbridger.Tortoise Media
''Tortoise Media'' is a British news website co-founded in 2018 by former BBC News director and ''The Times'' editor James Harding and former US ambassador to the United Kingdom Matthew Barzun. Tortoise produces podcasts and holds live discussio ...
. Journalists at Guardian Media Group voted to condemn the sale and passed a vote of no confidence in the newspaper's owners, accusing it of betrayal amid concerns that the sale of the paper could harm the financial security of staff members. The sale took place on 22 April 2025.
Group structure
GMG's core business is Guardian News & Media Limited, publisher of theguardian.com, and ''The Guardian'' newspaper. 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
Ascential (formerly EMAP) was a British-headquartered global company, specialising in events, intelligence and advisory services for the marketing and financial technology industries. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acq ...
: an international business-to-business digital intelligence and events business.
* 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 ''The Economists '' Intelligent Life'' magazine to question whether ''The Guardian'' could survive. In late 2013, GMG sold their GMG Property Services Group to private equity firm
Lloyds Development Capital
Lloyds Development Capital (Holdings) Limited (LDC), is a mid-market private equity house and subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group, established in 1981 as Lloyds Development Capital Limited. From 1999 to 2011, it was known as Lloyds TSB Developmen ...
(rebranded to Property Software Group), citing that it would allow them to focus on investing in the core part of their business—Guardian News and Media. In 2014, ''The Guardian'' launched a membership scheme, aiming to avoid introducing a
paywall
A paywall is a method of restricting access to content (media), content, with a purchase or a subscription business model, paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their website ...
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.
Media Group
A media conglomerate, media company, media group, or media institution is a company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as music, television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, video games, amusement parks, or ...