The Guardian slashes losses amid record sales following The Observer deal
The Guardian has slashed its losses and achieved a record revenue in the year the media group sold The Observer.
The title achieved a revenue of around £275m, according to unaudited figures for the year to 31 March 2025, up from the £257.8m it posted for its prior financial year.
The Guardian’s losses, which it describes as “operating cash outflow’, decreased over the same period from £37m to less than £25m.
The group, which is led by editor-in-chief Katharine Viner, added that its sales growth was largely driven by digital reader revenues which increased by over 20 per cent, to “well above” its target of £100m.
Its revenue from outside the UK “increased significantly” to over £100m while its sales in the US grew by more than 20 per cent to exceed £50m.
The results, which are expected to be published in greater detail later this year, come after The Scott Trust and Guardian Media Group finalised a deal to sell The Observer newspaper to Tortoise Media at the end of 2024.
The Guardian hails ‘hugely impressive achievement’
In an internal note shared with staff, seen by City AM, The Guardian’s chief financial officer Keith Underwood said: “Our financial objective is to break even on a cash basis so that revenues cover operating costs outside of strategic investments.
“We have made significant progress in achieving this; our operating cash outflow has decreased from £37m in 23/24 to less than £25m in 24/25. We ended the year with record revenues of approximately £275m.
“Reflecting our strategy to become more digital, digital revenues – from readers, advertisers, and other sources – now make up over 70 per cent of total revenues.
“This is an impressive figure which follows from the transformation of our business over the last decade.
“Revenue growth was largely driven by digital reader revenues which increased by over 20 per cent, to well above our target of £100m.
“This is a testament to the quality of our journalism, our products, and much hard work by the reader revenue team and others across the business.
“During the year, the number of digital recurring supporters increased by over 150,000 to 1.3m, with a significantly higher average revenue per supporter. This is a hugely impressive achievement.”
US expansion eyed by UK media
The results for The Guardian come after it was reported at the end of last week that The Daily Telegraph is poised to be sold to an investment consortium led by a US private equity firm, bringing a likely end to two years of uncertainty over its ownership.
Redbird Capital Partners, one half of the vehicle which first bought the broadsheet newspaper from Lloyds bank in 2023, is the lead investor in a group of media backers that will take control of the group in a deal worth £500m.
The move is expected to see the title expand further into the US.
On US expansion, The Guardian’s US revenue also increased significantly during its latest financial year.
CFO Keith Underwood added: “Reflecting our strategy to become more global, revenues from outside the UK increased significantly to over £100m.
“More specifically, 24/25 was a year of notable growth in the US, where revenue increased by more than 20 per cent to exceed £50m.
“This reflects the quality of our global journalism, and a return on earlier investments in the US.
“We have also seen increased growth in our advertising business, after a couple of challenging years, thanks to a strong performance from our teams globally in a very competitive market.
“The focus on direct client relationships, both big and small, is paying off.
“The UK team surpassed £40m in revenue this year. The new leadership team in the US has delivered significant uplift in programmatic revenue and in Australia the team has won a number of deals, including sponsorship of the Feast app.”