In brief
- The Guardian claims it has “no profit-driven billionaire owner,” funded instead by reader donations.
- In reality, a £1.24 billion Scott Trust endowment underwrites the paper, built on billion-dollar commercial sales.
- Reader donations only top up the trust, not sustain the newsroom.
- Left-leaning wealth like George Soros’ is framed as philanthropy, while right-leaning wealth is condemned.
Open an article from The Guardian and you are hit with a funding request. “As denialist politicians join with fossil fuel companies to dismantle climate progress, journalism is a critical line of defence for our planet,” it says.
Then comes the moral pitch: The Guardian is unique, it insists, because it has “no profit-driven billionaire or corporate owner.” Instead, it claims to be powered by reader donations. “Monthly helps most,” the appeal adds. They present themselves not just as reporters but as activists for climate change.
The billionaire fund behind the Guardian
Their claim of having “no profit-driven billionaire owner” is slippery. The paper is not a fragile collective of reader donations. The Scott Trust Limited owns the Guardian Media Group, and according to its 2023 annual report, the Scott Trust Endowment Fund was worth £1.24 billion. That is billionaire-level capital built through sales of major commercial assets: Trader Media Group, GMG Regional Media, GMG Radio, and others.
In 2007, GMG sold nearly half of Trader Media Group to Apax Partners in a deal that valued the business at £1.35 billion. The proceeds from these sales were rolled into the endowment that now underwrites the paper.
When donations top up billions
In other words, readers are not sustaining The Guardian. Their donations are topping up a fund built on billion-dollar sales, locked up in a trust so editors can pursue their worldview without commercial pressure.
If Rupert Murdoch had sold Sky to Comcast and ring-fenced a billion for the Times, would the left declare him pure and “not profit-driven”? Of course not. Yet this is the line The Guardian pushes.
Murdoch vs Soros: the double standard
Perhaps the left’s favourite billionaire, George Soros, shows the double standard best. Through his Open Society Foundation, Soros has channelled billions into progressive causes from European migration policy to criminal justice reform to climate action. His influence is vast. Yet when the money comes from Soros it is described as philanthropy. Billionaires on the right are oligarchs. Billionaires on the left are saints.
Wealth still shapes the editorial line
The Guardian’s trust structure works the same way. The money is still there. The influence is still real. The only difference is the alignment of ideology. That makes it acceptable to the left, who argue that because the fund is not technically “profit-driven,” it is somehow pure. But can anyone seriously argue that wealth does not shape the editorial line it enables?
