Guardian Media Group plc (often referred to as '
GMG') is a
company of the
United Kingdom owning various
mass media operations including
The Guardian,
The Observer and the
Manchester Evening News. The Group is owned by the
Scott Trust. It was founded as the
Manchester Guardian Ltd in 1907 when
C. P. Scott bought the
Manchester Guardian from the estate of his cousin Edward Taylor. It became the
Manchester Guardian and Evening News Ltd when it bought out the
Manchester Evening News in 1924, later becoming the
Guardian and Manchester Evening News Ltd to reflect the change in the morning paper's title. It adopted its current name in 1993. Its current chief executive is
Carolyn McCall, formerly Chief Executive of Guardian News and Media Limited and a former non executive director of
Tesco and chair of Opportunity Now.
GMG has various divisions and joint venture businesses Guardian News & Media (the Guardian, the Observer, guardian.co.uk); GMG Regional Media (Manchester Evening News, other local newspapers in the North West and South of England, Manchester Online, Channel M); GMG Radio (regional radio stations under the Smooth, Real, and Rock Radio brands); Trader Media Group (the Auto Trader magazine and website), which it owns jointly with private equity firm Apax); GMG Property Services (estate agency software providers Vebra and Core, lettings software provider CFP Software, graphic design consultancy The Media Design House and consumer portal ThinkProperty.com); and Emap, the B2B events, data and publishing company, also jointly owned with Apax.
Guardian Media Group exists to support the core purpose of its owner, the Scott Trust to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity.[1]
In March 2007 GMG sold 49.9% of Trader Media Group to Apax Partners, in a deal that valued Trader Media Group at £1.35 billion. In December 2007 it was announced that GMG and Apax had made a successful bid to buy Emap's business-to-business arm for around £1 billion.[2]
