Discovery loses £12m on GB News
October 3, 2022
By Chris Forrester
Discovery Communications lost £12 million (€13.7m) on its stake in British right-wing news channel GB News. The loss was confirmed in a filing to UK regulatory authorities.
Discovery, now part of Warner Bros Discovery, invested £20 million in the news channel, but exited after 12 months and sold its 25 per cent stake for £8 million.
When the channel launched in June 2021 the service was valued at £80 million, but has been beset by technical problems and when its chairman, political journalist Andrew Neil, quit after just 3 months. He stated at the time that had he stayed at the channel “it would have killed me”.
GB News has struggled with low ratings and only attracting a fraction of the viewers achieved by rival news channels.
The Discovery shareholding has been bought by Brexiter hedge fund millionaire Sir Paul Marshall and Legatum, an investment company founded by New Zealand billionaire Christopher Chandler.
Co-founders Liberty Media’s Andrew J Cole and Mark Schneider also left the company. Schneider has a long history in European cable and was co-founder of UPC which was sold to Liberty Global back in 2005.