The Economist has best financial year since 2016

The Economist had its most successful year financially since 2016 last year with profit up and record revenue, thanks to increased subscriptions, reports Charlotte Tobitt of Press Gazette.

Tobitt reports, “The magazine and digital publisher said subscriber numbers were ‘robust,’ totalling 1,185,000 despite a ‘sluggish’ start to the financial year in April 2021 which it put down to a ‘slow news cycle’ following a busy period of the Covid-19 pandemic and US election.

“This compares to 1,122,000 subscriptions at the end of March 2021 and 1,088,000 in 2020. The past figures have been restated as The Economist now includes the Espresso app, Global Business Review app and group subscriptions within its subscriber counts.

“In its annual report, published on Tuesday, parent company The Economist Newspaper Ltd said its adjusted operating profit for the year was up 11% to £46.4m, its best since £47m in 2016.

“Meanwhile revenue was at its best level ever after 12% growth to £346.3m (both these profit and revenue figures refer to continuing operations only).”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.