The Guardian Media Group (GMG) is in exclusive talks to sell The Observer, the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, to startup Tortoise Media, the companies said on Tuesday.
The negotiations, first reported by Sky News, include a commitment from Tortoise to invest over 25 million pounds ($33 million) over the next five years in the editorial and commercial renewal of the title, Tortoise said.
First published in 1791, the Observer is one of Britain's best known papers and once carried the journalism of George Orwell. It became a sister title to the Guardian newspaper in 1993 after its acquisition by GMG.
"It provides a chance to build The Observer’s future position with a significant investment and allow The Guardian to focus on its growth strategy to be more global, more digital and more reader-funded," GMG Chief Executive Anna Bateson said in a statement.
Tortoise was founded in 2019 by James Harding, a former executive at the Times newspaper and BBC News.
"We think The Observer is one of the greatest names in news. We believe passionately in its future – both in print and digital," Harding said.
($1 = 0.7564 pounds) (Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar, writing by Muvija M)
