GB News is now valued at less than half its launch value, according to accounts data published last week by Warner Bros Discovery’s European subsidiary.
WBD sold its 25% stake in August for £8 million as GB News entered a new £60 million refinancing round. The figure is confirmed in the annual accounts report for Discovery Communications Europe Limited, filed last week at Companies House and first spotted by The Sunday Times. The same report reveals the company originally paid £20 million for the stake.
The newspaper has done the maths, and with a 25% stake now selling for £8 million, it means the news channel is now valued at £32 million, instead of the £80 million it was worth at launch.
WBD’s stake in the news channel was through GB News operating company All Perspectives Limited. This is now entirely in control of hedge fund investor Sir Paul Marshall and the Dubai-based Legatum.
GB News says its successfully raised £60 million in new funding to help its expansion. It recently parted with a number of presenters including Colin Brazier as part of a revamp of daytime news schedules.
The channel is going head-to-head with rival news and opinion channel TalkTV across TV, digital radio and online platforms. In August, GB News beat TalkTV for a prime slot on Virgin Media’s TV guide, allowing it to leapfrog to channel 604. But some of TalkTV’s programmes have recently surfaced on a number of local TV channels. Local TV channels in places including Bristol, Liverpool and Newcastle are currently showing the 7pm hour of TalkTV via Freeview channel 7 and Sky channel 188.