Photo: the Guardian.
Following a five-year turnaround plan to help secure the financial future of the Guardian, Andrew Miller, chief executive of Guardian Media Group, is to stand down at the end of June.
Miller, who became chief executive in July 2010, oversaw a business reorganisation that included a significant expansion in digital media distribution, while raising more than £600 million for long-term reinvestment in the core Guardian News & Media business.
“Andrew has done an outstanding job as chief executive, helping to transform the financial resources of GMG,” said Neil Berkett, chair of GMG.
“When Andrew leaves in June, his lasting legacy will include a strong investment strategy, a healthy increase in underlying revenues, and an ambitious vision for the Guardian’s future.”
For the financial year to March 30, 2014, GMG reported revenues up by 7 per cent to £210 million, whilst operating losses narrowed by 27 per cent to £19.4 million.
Miller said: “Having achieved our strategy to streamline the Group, secure its financial future and set it on the path to digital success, I have decided that mid-2015 will be the right time for me to explore new opportunities and for a new editor and chief executive to take the company on the next big phase of the Guardian’s digital growth and international expansion.
“My successor will inherit a business with very strong commercial foundations in place.
“For me, it has been a privilege to help equip GMG for a sustainable financial future, securing the unique contribution made by the Guardian to national and international debate for many years to come.”
The application process for finding a new chief executive will be open to both internal and external candidates, and will be managed by an executive search firm and overseen by the GMG board.
However, not everyone has endorsed the Guardian’s ‘open’ journalism business plan. Last year News UK chief, Mike Darcey, in a debate with Miller, said he could not see how the business could pay for itself in the long-term.
“The company is definitely trying to deliver its pro-journalism vision,” Darcey said. “And its free online approach and availability in multiple territories means it has very considerable reach. But the question I have is how will this pay for itself in the long run? At the moment it is still a loss making enterprise.”
Darcey said that if the Guardian’s strategy is to increase its reach as it patiently forges open a longer-term path to profitability, then the business is on shaky ground and print editions will likely cease to exist entirely as cover prices continue to rise.
