Observer sale to Tortoise to proceed after late-night agreement

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The owner of the Guardian Media Group is expected to announce on Friday that it has agreed to the sale of The Observer to digital start-up Tortoise despite two days of strikes from staff over the deal.

Members of the Scott Trust met on Thursday evening to discuss the deal, under which Tortoise will acquire the 233-year-old Sunday newspaper for a small sum but with the promise to invest £25mn in reviving and growing the title over the next five years.

The Scott Trust, a £1.3bn fund that has owned The Guardian since 1936 and The Observer since 1993, has agreed to allow the sale to go ahead, according to people close to the situation. The board of the Guardian has already given its approval to the deal.

The deal is expected to have a number of conditions attached to meet staff concerns, which have boiled over into open criticism of Anna Bateson, chief executive of the media group, as well as Guardian editor Katherine Viner and members of the Scott Trust.

In an email to staff this week, trust chair Ole Jacob Sunde said it would stay on as a part-owner of the Observer to secure “sustainable, long-term funding”.

He said that all owners would need to “embody the values of editorial independence, press freedoms and liberal journalism that have been part of The Observer’s ethos since we bought it”.

The Guardian is offering a voluntary redundancy scheme to Observer staff who do not want to join Tortoise, and the opportunity to apply for roles at the sister paper. Observer staff have been promised the same job titles, salaries and benefits if they move.

The decision comes after two days of protests by staff, who are concerned about the financial future of the newspaper under Tortoise, a lossmaking media group founded by former Times editor James Harding.

Guardian staff walked out on strike on Wednesday morning, attracting support from celebrities and MPs, with a further two-day strike planned for later this month. 

Several alternative approaches have been made for The Observer, although all but one have remained anonymous. Dale Vince, the green energy tycoon and Labour party donor, last week said he would “be interested in the idea of holding the title in a trust” should the Tortoise bid fail. 

A Guardian Media Group spokesperson said it had “not received any bids containing any substantive detail from any party other than Tortoise Media”.

Harding has agreed funding for the newspaper from a range of investors, including Gary Lubner, a South African donor to Labour. As well as a minority stake, the Scott Trust plans to keep a board seat in a move designed to calm fears over the newspaper’s future.