The British “Observer” – the oldest Sunday newspaper in the world – is for sale. The owner, the Guardian media house, parent company of the daily newspaper of the same name, announced on Tuesday that it had started formal sales negotiations with the online news portal Tortoise Media. The company did not provide any further details on the targeted price. Tortoise Media made an offer that was significant enough “to be examined more closely”.
Guardian Media Group chief executive Anna Bateson said the sale offered “an opportunity to strengthen the future position of the Observer with a significant investment.” The Observer was founded in 1791. The Guardian Media Group acquired the Sunday newspaper in 1993.
Tortoise Media says it plans to invest more than £25 million (€30 million) in The Observer over the next five years. The newspaper will continue to be published in paper form on Sundays and the online offering will be expanded.
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“We believe The Observer is one of the biggest names in news. We believe passionately in its future, both in print and digital,” said James Harding, editor-in-chief of Tortoise. Tortoise Media was founded by Harding, a former editor-in-chief of The Times and the BBC, along with Matthew Barzun, the former US ambassador to the UK. (AFP)
