Operating losses for Guardian News and Media for the last financial year are set to be in line with last year’s £34.4m total.
The news came as staff were told today in a series of briefings that GNM is becoming a ‘digital first’company – with resources shifted from print to digital journalism.
A GNM spokesman confirmed to Press Gazette that GNM ‘cash losses’ for the financial year to 31 March were £33m. This means that official operating losses, when announced, will be broadly in line with the 2009/2010 total of £34.4m.
Staff were told that GNM turnover for the year to the end of March is down £23m year on year to £198m.
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GNM said that digital income totalled £37m and that in the current financial year it is set to total £47m. Staff were told that the plan is to double that total over the next five years.
While emphasis is to be shifted from print to digital, the overall editorial budget – and staffing level of 630 journalists – is to remain unchanged.
According to MediaGuardian.co.uk, staff were told today that parent company Guardian Media Group could exhaust its cash reserves in the next three to five years if it does nothing.
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However it should be noted that parent company Guardian Media Group’s other assets, aside from the flagship national titles, are worth hundreds of millions and include Emap and Trader Media Group, which are jointly owned with Apax Partners.
GMG is owned by the Scott Trust, whose remit is to ‘secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian in perpetuity”.
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