In the middle distance, a different kind of Guardian Media Group appears to be taking shape. The Sunday Times reports that GMG investments like EMAP and Trader Media Group, as well as wholly-owned subsidiaries that operate radio stations and classified websites, will be hived off into “an investment portfolio from where they could be sold [...]
Like many of the old guard Fleet Street commentators, Stephen Glover frequently talks nonsense when confronted by financials. This is the same man who wrote a 328pp book about launching and running a national newspaper that failed to mention revenue or profit in any substantive way. Like the rest of us, however, Glover abhors a [...]
Tomorrow, when Guardian Media Group publishes its annual accounts for the year to March 2010, those who regard The Guardian as a perverse charity that distorts competition will argue that not much has changed. They might even point to an increased pre-tax loss at GMG — courtesy of paper-based write-offs — as evidence of deterioration. [...]
Guardian Media Group isn’t known for losing bosses. Yet it’s been a busy 12 months at the top of the company. In April of last year, GMG appointed the former investment banker Amelia Fawcett to replace Paul Myners as chairman. Six months later, finance director Nick Castro retired. Now it’s spring again, and Carolyn McCall is [...]
A few kind souls at Hold The Front Page are predicting what awaits employees of Guardian Media Group who will soon start working for Trinity Mirror: “For those who thought [GMG Regional Media chief executive Mark] Dodson was a ruthless hatchet man, you ain’t seen nothing yet…” “God help them….If they think they’ve been squeezed [...]
For most Britons, the Blair-Brown boom reached a peak in early 2008. Yet as always, the news business was ahead of the game. For most publishers, revenues hit an all-time high during 2004-2005. One deal, in particular, signalled that we had reached the peak. In December 2005, Johnston Press bought Scotsman Publications from the Barclay [...]
The ongoing spat between the Telegraph and the Guardian has been entertaining. But I wonder whether it might be drawing to a close. In recent months, the Telegraph has become deeply interested in the Guardian’s financial performance, variously describing this as “grim”, “disappointing”, and “disastrous”. The Guardian’s apparent inability to impose compulsory redundancies on editorial [...]
Guardian Media Group is hopping mad with the Daily Telegraph for revealing its discussions with Trinity Mirror about a possible sale of the company’s regional newspapers. GMG has been stung by several aspects of the Telegraph’s story, including the allegation that the company is turning its back “on its heartland to keep the Guardian afloat”. [...]
In itself, GMG’s effort to sell its regional newspapers to Trinity Mirror isn’t surprising. The timing is interesting, though. Only a few weeks ago, sources at GMG played down the chances of selling off the Manchester Evening News in the near term. My assumption was that a sale would have to wait until economic recovery [...]
Did 25% of Guardian News & Media’s revenue base really disappear into thin air between April and September? Last week, the Guardian itself left the door open to this interpretation. The Times appeared to confirm it, suggesting that revenues at the Guardian and the Observer had declined by £33m since April. The contextual maths are [...]