Save the Observer

@savetheobs.bsky.social

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Readers and former staff campaigning against the rushed transfer (and paywalling) of Guardian title The Observer to loss-making digital startup Tortoise media. Help by reposting updates. 🙏 Official NUJ account here: @gonuj.org

While Guardian bosses are understood to have approved the sale to Tortoise, any transaction will need the backing of at least 75pc of the Scott Trust board. A meeting is scheduled for Monday to vote, however it is thought the board may choose to delay its decision. Pressure is mounting as journalists prepare to strike for four days next month in protest against the sale. The National Union of Journalists (NUJ), which is coordinating the walkouts, has said industrial action can be avoided if the takeover talks are called off.
He said: “Even once added expenses are included, as they have been in the company’s recent shameful attempt to bundle the paper out of the door as quickly as possible, and account is taken of shared resources we use, the losses are miniscule set against the company’s £1.3bn cash pile.”
The publisher argues that if shared costs such as advertising sales, finance and HR, as well as sport, international and business journalism, were included, the Observer would already be loss-making. Nevertheless, insiders accuse bosses of over-exaggerating the extent of the Observer’s decline in an effort to push through the deal. Ms Bateson has told staff that the status quo is “not an option” and that “difficult decisions” will have to be made if the sale does not go ahead. Paul Webster, who stepped down as editor of the Observer earlier this month, has branded arguments that the sale is necessary to secure financial sustainability “preposterous”.
The publisher argues that if shared costs such as advertising sales, finance and HR, as well as sport, international and business journalism, were included, the Observer would already be loss-making. Nevertheless, insiders accuse bosses of over-exaggerating the extent of the Observer’s decline in an effort to push through the deal. Ms Bateson has told staff that the status quo is “not an option” and that “difficult decisions” will have to be made if the sale does not go ahead. Paul Webster, who stepped down as editor of the Observer earlier this month, has branded arguments that the sale is necessary to secure financial sustainability “preposterous”.
Terms of the deal with Tortoise have not been disclosed. However, it is thought that Mr Harding is paying a nominal sum while pledging £25m of investment over the next five years. Staff have previously raised concerns about the links between Mr Harding and Ms Bateson. The pair have previously holidayed together on a £15m superyacht and in the French ski resort of Val d’Isère, sparking accusations of a “sweetheart deal”. The Guardian has rebuffed these accusations, saying that Ms Bateson declared her friendship with Mr Harding and that extensive due diligence has been carried out by both the board and independent advisers.
Revelations about the Observer’s profitability will also call into question the valuation placed on the newspaper. Media analysts said the title would reasonably be expected to attract an eight-times multiple on its profits. This would give it a valuation of almost £30m.
Graphic image of elderly bespectacled Tortoise holding crumpled edition of The Observer newspaper in its mouth
Webster told The Sunday Times that he felt some of the figures presented by Harding were “wildly inaccurate and over-optimistic”. “James Harding is clearly a very fine journalist,” he added. “But I don’t think a small, loss-making start-up has really got any chance of producing, for any sustained period of time, a Sunday newspaper capable of competing on a Sunday morning.” The conspiracy theory among some of Harding’s critics is that Tortoise, after sustaining heavy losses, is in need of fresh funding and The Observer deal is a way to obtain it. Harding, for his part, denies the suggestion that he is performing any kind of fundraising in disguise, and says his new investors are committed regardless of whether the deal completes, although not to the value of £20 million. “That’s not the reason for doing it,” he said. “We have the money. We’re on track to be profitable in the fourth quarter.”
Despite Tortoise’s financial travails, Harding is confident he will raise the funds needed to buy The Observer. It is thought that Tortoise will pay a nominal fee, but Harding has pledged to retain the title’s current budget and invest £25 million over the next five years. Some £5 million will come from expected future profits. His new backers include Gary Lubner, the South African businessman and Labour donor. However, Harding has struggled to win support at The Observer. Last month, he presented his vision to staff of the newspaper in their conference room. He plans to invest in new business and sports departments, launch a paywalled Observer website and keep the print newspaper alive. Harding, who wants to emulate the success of The Atlantic magazine in the US and The Spectator in the UK, thinks the combined company can earn 173,000 print and digital subscribers and become profitable by 2029. One attendee told Harding he was “dreaming”. Paul Webster, The Observer’s editor since 2018 who stepped down last week, challenged Harding’s assertions that the paper’s future was imperilled under the current owners.
Tortoise’s annual revenues surpassed £6 million in 2022. Losses to that date totalled £16 million, and have continued. Tortoise now expects to make a profit in 2025, discounting The Observer. There is a feeling among some former staff that costs could have been better controlled. One recalled thinking that a “management consultant would have a field day here”. Two sources stated that Harding employs three personal assistants, but in fact, he has only one — the others referred to have more senior roles.
Tortoise has punched above its weight in industry awards, especially with podcasts. Sweet Bobby, an audio investigation into catfishing — the practice of setting up a fake identity to scam people online — was widely acclaimed and Netflix acquired the rights to turn it into a documentary. But there are questions over the extent to which industry acclaim has translated into cash. In 2020, it was reported that Tortoise had sold 50,000 memberships, which cost £130 a year and give customers entry to events and early access to content. But ex-staff suggested that most memberships were sold at a discounted rate, either for bulk-buying companies, students or young people. Tortoise declined to provide an updated figure.
Even Harding’s critics concede that he is “chummy” and “charismatic”. One described him as a “genius” on stage at Tortoise events, and added that he has a “really good news sense”. And while there seems to be no shortage of naysayers, some of them no doubt with personal animosity towards Harding, several ex-employees remain loyal.
Harding put this down to normal experimentation by a nimble start-up. He said Tortoise invested big in events early on but scaled back after Covid. “We try things,” he said. “Not all of them have worked. Sadly, when they haven’t worked, we’ve had to make the decision to stop them.” One source said: “When he has an idea, he can make you feel like the most important person in the company. You overlook the frustrations. It’s intoxicating. But then he gets bored — and you won’t necessarily know he’s lost interest until you get made redundant.” Tortoise currently has 53 employees, down from 73 in 2022. It has run three redundancy rounds, and several senior members of staff have resigned. D’Ancona, Cook and Benn have gone, while the likes of Hill, Thomas and Winch have stayed. Harding said: “I would argue that actually the commitment of people and the longevity of people working here is much more striking than the churn.”
Five former employees described Harding as unpredictable. Some were surprised when, in early 2022, he led the start-up remotely from Kenya for about two months. The boss, they said, would regularly change his orders on what Tortoise should focus on, be it long-form articles, photojournalism, events known as “thinkins”, podcasts, newsletters or other projects. “It became impossible to know what kind of business you were walking into in the morning,” said one.
With a sizeable payroll budget, Tortoise enticed some big-name recruits, among them former Spectator editor Matthew d’Ancona, former Newsnight policy editor Chris Cook and chief of staff Emily Benn, the grand-daughter of the late Labour grandee Tony. Tortoise’s office in Fitzrovia, central London, is likened to a “posh WeWork”. One source recalled “curated soul music” playing in the showers and “vintage gin” being passed around on Thursdays. Another said the building’s operator, Fora, would occasionally hire a masseuse for weary workers. But some staff found the work was not as agreeable as the workplace. “Nobody had much of an idea what they were doing — it was really quite chaotic,” said one source, recalling their first day. “I just thought: this is crazy.”
Tortoise has lost more than ÂŁ16 million since launch. High-profile journalists have departed or been caught up in redundancy rounds. But so far, the media minnow has avoided much external scrutiny.
Five reasons the journalists are striking