No Paywall, No Billionaire Owner: How the Guardian Turned Free Access Into an $81.4M U.S. Business

A model built on recurring reader donations is closing in on $100M—and rewriting where digital news revenue can come from

Nearly a decade after it began asking readers to pay for journalism it still gives away for free, the Guardian's bet has produced its best U.S. result yet: $81.4 million in revenue in the fiscal year ended March 31, the highest since launching stateside 15 years ago. The engine was not a paywall, a subscription wall or advertising, but voluntary recurring donations—70.7% of U.S. revenue, with ads making up about a quarter, per an internal presentation obtained by Axios.

The model works because of how the U.S. demand environment and the Guardian's structure line up. Political-news appetite has surged; a nonprofit with no paywall meets it by converting trust into voluntary support rather than gating access. With no billionaire owner—the company is held by the Scott Trust, charged with sustaining the Guardian in perpetuity—the pitch to readers is that the journalism is not for sale. CEO Anna Bateson said that mix of nonprofit structure, global perspective and free access drew an unprecedented level of U.S. donations.

Two Straight Years of 25% Growth, and a Record-Profit Year

Guardian US revenue rose 25% annually over the past two fiscal years, while profit climbed 56% in FY2025 and 41% in FY2026. The company's fiscal year ends March 31.

Revenue went from $52.3 million in FY2023 to a near-flat $52.1 million in FY2024, then accelerated to $65.3 million in FY2025 and $81.4 million in FY2026. Profit—reported as “contribution,” the Guardian's own profitability measure—bottomed at $15.8 million in FY2024 before recovering to $34.5 million in FY2026, the most profitable year on record. The U.S. arm leans on its U.K. parent to cover some central costs such as product and engineering, which supports its margins.

Source: internal company presentation obtained by Axios. FY ends March 31; profit reported as contribution. Figures in U.S. dollars.

How the Model Actually Works

The Guardian started asking readers for contributions in 2016, when reader revenue still tracked closely with page views. It has since decoupled the two: globally the company now counts about 1.3 million recurring digital supporters and reported £107 million in digital reader revenue in the year to March 2025, up 22% from £88 million. Notably, only a small share of its 100-million-plus monthly readers pay—on the order of 2.4%—so the free, high-traffic site functions as a marketing funnel that converts a thin but loyal slice into recurring supporters.

The acquisition machinery is concrete. The end-of-article appeal—the Guardian's “Epic” unit—is its main conversion channel, refined through more than 1,500 A/B-tested variants, with email a second key lever. The company has deliberately tied campaigns to a planned calendar of “moments” rather than the live news cycle, so some of its strongest revenue days now come on lower-traffic days. Support is structured in tiers, from a low-barrier entry level up to higher-value subscription products, giving the Guardian room to upsell.

Diversification reinforces it. Beyond hard news the Guardian has built feature verticals and products—soccer and wellness newsletters, a premium app and the Feast cooking app—each a new surface for turning readers into supporters.

Most Donations Are Recurring—Functioning Like Subscriptions

Stability is the point. Bateson said the vast majority of reader donations are recurring, functioning much like subscriptions or memberships—predictable, repeatable revenue rather than one-off, campaign-driven giving. In the U.S., the Guardian had already passed 250,000 recurring supporters before its most recent year-end push.

A 2022 Pivot to the U.S.—Headcount Doubled

Around 2022 the Guardian decided to invest in the U.S. market, installing a U.S.-based leadership team to run editorial and commercial expansion. It has since hired more than 100 people, growing the newsroom from 75 to 150 and the business team from 25 to more than 50.

The shift reshaped the wider revenue mix. U.S. managing director Steve Sachs said that a decade ago only 8% of the Guardian's reader revenue came from outside the U.K.; today it is more than 40%.

As U.K. Titles Head to America, the Guardian Takes a Different Route

British publishers are increasingly expanding into the U.S., but most chase its subscription and advertising markets. The Telegraph was acquired in March by Germany's Axel Springer—parent of Politico and Business Insider—in a £575 million cash deal. The Daily Mail, a traffic juggernaut, named its first North America president last year amid a broader revenue push.

The Guardian instead carved out a donation niche in the same market, anchored by its identity as a nonprofit owned by a mission-committed trust. For the outlet, the U.S. push was less a choice than survival: not long ago it was losing tens of millions of pounds a year.

Targeting $100M This Year, Expanding Beyond Politics

The Guardian expects close to $100 million in revenue in the current fiscal year, ending March 31, 2027, and plans to add about 20 roles—mostly video, visuals, photo and design. The hires are meant to push coverage beyond politics and hard news into areas its U.S. audience increasingly cares about, such as the World Cup and soccer.