The Guardian
Britain's 1821-founded newspaper of record, owned by the Scott Trust to protect its journalism: record £282m revenue in 2026 with 1.4 million digital supporters and a £1.35bn endowment, even after selling The Observer in 2025.
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- Location
- London, England
- Country
- United Kingdom
- What it is
- A British daily newspaper, published by Guardian Media Group, which is owned by the Scott Trust — the trust exists to safeguard the paper's journalistic independence
- Founded
- "1821 in Manchester, England, as The Manchester Guardian, by cotton merchant John Edward Taylor — two years after the Peterloo Massacre; the first issue appeared on 5 May 1821"
- Name and home
- "Retitled The Guardian on 24 August 1959; main editorial offices moved from Manchester to London in 1970"
- Owner structure
- The Scott Trust, which took ownership in 1936 and owns the Guardian Media Group; its endowment stood at £1.35bn in 2026
- 2026 revenue
- Record £282m in the year to March 2026, including £126m from paying online readers (up 17%); 1.4 million recurring digital supporters, about 500,000 of them in the United States
- American operation
- US revenue rose 14% to £63.8m; 41% of all Guardian revenue now comes from outside the UK; the US operation employs about 150 journalists
- Losses
- Pre-tax losses narrowed from £37m to £25m to £17m over three years
- The Observer sale
- The world's oldest Sunday newspaper (founded 1791, in GMG since 1993) was sold to Tortoise Media — announced December 2024, completed April 2025 — opposed by journalists who staged a 48-hour strike
Overview
The Guardian just posted the best financial results in its history — and almost nobody on the search results page knows. The British newspaper reported record revenue of £282 million for the year to March 2026, powered by 1.4 million recurring digital supporters and a Scott Trust endowment of £1.35 billion (Press Gazette). It did this the year after selling its Sunday sister paper, The Observer, to Tortoise Media — losing roughly £18 million in print revenue and gaining a business now growing fastest in America, where revenue rose 14% to £63.8 million (Press Gazette).
That business sits under one of journalism’s most unusual ownership structures. The Guardian is owned by Guardian Media Group, which is owned by the Scott Trust — a trust created in 1936 precisely so that no proprietor could bend the paper’s journalism, with an endowment now worth £1.35 billion, up £100 million in a single year (University of Manchester; Press Gazette). Pre-tax losses have narrowed from £37 million to £25 million to £17 million across three years, while 41% of revenue now arrives from outside the UK (Press Gazette).
Two centuries of independence
The paper was founded in 1821 in Manchester by the cotton merchant John Edward Taylor, two years after the Peterloo Massacre — the cavalry charge against pro-democracy demonstrators in St Peter’s Field that shocked the city (University of Manchester). The first issue of The Manchester Guardian appeared on 5 May 1821 as a weekly; it went twice-weekly in 1836 and daily in 1855 (University of Manchester). Ownership passed through the Taylor and Scott families — C.P. Scott edited the paper for 57 years from 1872 and bought it outright in 1904 — before the family transferred ownership to the Scott Trust in 1936 to protect the paper’s journalistic independence (University of Manchester).
The title changed to The Guardian on 24 August 1959, and the main editorial offices moved from Manchester to London in 1970 (University of Manchester). The tabloid-era Guardian of the 21st century is best known globally for investigations that carried real political weight — and for a transatlantic readership that now funds it directly.
The reporting that travels
The Guardian’s journalism is the through-line connecting several other FactsLedger profiles. In 2018, after Sean Hannity was revealed in court as a client of Donald Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen, the Guardian’s Jon Swaine investigated the Fox News host’s real estate holdings — finding records linking Hannity to a group of shell companies that spent at least $90 million on more than 870 homes in seven states over the previous decade (Columbia Journalism Review). Swaine further found that Hannity had amassed part of the collection with support from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — a fact he had not disclosed when praising HUD Secretary Ben Carson on his television show (Columbia Journalism Review).
That same year, the Guardian published the profile that traced Stormy Daniels’s pseudonym to its origins: “drawn from the name Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx gave to his daughter — Storm — and her preference for Jack Daniel’s whiskey,” as the Indian Express reported the Guardian’s piece (Indian Express).
What this profile does not claim
This profile does not state the undisclosed sale price of The Observer — no figure was made public. It does not name the Guardian’s current editor, since none of the sources read in full for this profile identified the sitting editor. It does not give a current print circulation figure, because none of the sources read in full provided one. The characterization of the Scott Trust as existing “to protect the paper’s journalistic independence” is the University of Manchester archive’s description of the 1936 transfer, not the trust’s current mission statement verbatim. And the supporter, revenue and endowment figures describe the year to March 2026 as reported by Press Gazette — they are not a forward projection.
Timeline
- 1821
- John Edward Taylor founds The Manchester Guardian in Manchester; the first issue is published on 5 May, two years after the Peterloo Massacre. It becomes daily in 1855.
- 1936
- Ownership is transferred to the Scott Trust, created to protect the paper's journalistic independence.
- 1959
- The paper is retitled The Guardian on 24 August; the main editorial offices move to London in 1970.
- 2018
- The Guardian's Jon Swaine investigates Sean Hannity's property empire, linking him to shell companies that spent at least $90m on more than 870 homes in seven states, partly with HUD support.
- 2018
- The Guardian publishes the profile tracing Stormy Daniels's pseudonym to Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx's daughter Storm and her preference for Jack Daniel's whiskey.
- 2025
- The Observer is sold to Tortoise Media, ending Guardian Media Group's ownership of the Sunday paper; the Scott Trust takes a 9% stake in Tortoise and commits £5m of a £25m investment.
- 2026
- The Guardian reports record £282m revenue, 1.4 million digital supporters and a £1.35bn Scott Trust endowment, while cutting pre-tax losses to £17m.
What we could not verify
These claims came up in research and could not be confirmed. They are recorded here rather than published as fact or quietly dropped. If you hold a source that settles one, please tell us.
- The exact sale price of The Observer was not disclosed and is not stated here.
- The identity of the Guardian's current editor is not asserted; no source read in full for this profile named the sitting editor.
- Circulation figures for the print edition are not stated (none of the sources read in full gave a current print circulation number).
Sources
5 sources (3 tier 1, 2 tier 2), each opened and read against the claim it supports. Every source is independent of the subject; no first-party material is cited. See the source policy.
This profile is built from five sources read in full: the University of Manchester's John Rylands archive on the paper's founding and the Scott Trust; the Columbia Journalism Review's account of the Guardian's 2018 Hannity property investigation; AP's reporting on the Observer sale (via Barchart); Press Gazette's 2026 financial results; and the Indian Express's account of the Guardian's Stormy Daniels pseudonym profile. It leads with the 2026 financial picture — record revenue and 1.4 million paying supporters after selling the Observer — which none of the page-one results mention.
- Supports: 1821 founding by John Edward Taylor two years after Peterloo; first issue 5 May 1821; weekly to twice-weekly (1836) to daily (1855); Taylor/Scott families; C.P. Scott editor 1872, bought the paper 1904; Scott Trust ownership transfer 1936 for journalistic independence; retitled The Guardian 24 Aug 1959; editorial offices moved to London 1970 Open original source
- Supports: The Guardian's Jon Swaine investigated Hannity's real estate holdings: records linking him to shell companies that spent at least $90m on more than 870 homes in seven states over a decade; part of the collection amassed with HUD support, undisclosed when Hannity praised HUD Secretary Ben Carson on air Open original source
- Supports: Scott Trust confirmed sale of The Observer to Tortoise Media for undisclosed fee; Scott Trust owns the Guardian Media Group; The Observer founded 1791, part of GMG since 1993; Scott Trust to take 9% stake in Tortoise and commit £5m of £25m investment; Tortoise founded 2019 by James Harding and Matthew Barzun; Lucy Rock first woman print editor in 100 years; 48-hour strike by GMG journalists opposed the sale Open original source
- Supports: Record £282m revenue in year to March 2026; £126m from paying online readers (+17%); Observer sale to Tortoise Media completed April 2025 (~£18m print revenue lost); US revenue £55.8m→£63.8m (+14%), non-UK share 41%; 1.4m recurring digital supporters (500k US); Scott Trust endowment £1.35bn (+£100m); losses £37m→£25m→£17m; editorial headcount 865 (was 913); US operation ~150 journalists; CEO Anna Bateson, chair Charles Gurassa, US editor Betsy Reed quotes Open original source
- Supports: "A profile published in The Guardian last week said the pseudonym Stormy Daniels was 'drawn from the name Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx gave to his daughter – Storm – and her preference for Jack Daniel's whiskey'"; a Guardian report in September 2018 covered Daniels ahead of her memoir release Open original source
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