LONDON: The world's oldest Sunday newspaper, The Observer, could be sold, after its owner of more than 30 years and its potential buyer on Tuesday announced they were in talks.
The Guardian Media Group (GMG), which reported rising losses last year, said it was in discussions to offload the weekly to “slow news” outlet Tortoise Media.
Tortoise said it had approached GMG with an offer to buy the publication and invest more than £25 million ($33 million) over the next five years in the “editorial and commercial renewal of the title”.
The offer “was significant enough to look at in more detail”, GMG said, prompting agreement to enter “formal and exclusive negotiations”, Tortoise added.
Tortoise, which was founded in 2019, said The Observer, which dates back to 1791, would still be published on a Sunday if its bid was successful.
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“We think The Observer is one of the greatest names in news,“ said James Harding, a former BBC News director and editor of The Times, who co-founded Tortoise.
“We believe passionately in its future -- both in print and digital,“ he added, promising to “honour the values and standards” set under its ownership by The Guardian.
The Observer's most famous contributor was George Orwell, who called the publication “the enemy of nonsense”. “We’re excited to show readers, old and new, that it still is,“ said Harding.
GMG said a sale would see The Guardian, its flagship title, remain a 24/7 online offering but with greater global reach and funding by its readers.
In the financial year 2023/24, GMG said overall revenue was £257.8 million in the last financial year to the end of March, a drop of 2.5 percent from the previous 12 months.
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It blamed the fall on “a market slowdown in advertising and sustained structural pressures on print”.
GMG chief executive Anna Bateson said a sale “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”.
The Observer was bought by GMG in 1993. Tortoise is backed by a range of investors although no investor has a controlling interest.
Tortoise has carved out an on-line niche with in-depth reports, characterising its overall approach as not “breaking news but what’s driving the news” with investigations and podcasts.
