Andrew Neil may have acrimoniously stepped down as the public face of GB News, but he still remains fully invested in it. Updated records at Companies House show he still holds 62,458 shares in the company.
What exactly they are worth, however, is a moot point. GB News’s parent firm, All Perspectives, retained £56.4m of the £59.7m that was invested in it by its backers, who include Paul Marshall, James Schneider, Lords Spencer and Farmer and Discovery Inc, as well as the chief executive of GB News, Angelos Frangopoulos.
The firm’s balance sheet shows that it has a war chest stashed with £46.5m as of May 2021, despite its trading subsidiary, GB News Limited, posting a first trading loss of £2.97m.
The financial statements include for some reason its “editorial charter” – “to provide balanced and fair coverage, ensuring its journalism is accurate and conversations are insightful, respectful and set an example by treating others the way they would expect to be treated.
These are noble words through which Nigel Farage rode a coach and horses last year with his appalling comments about the Royal National Lifeboat Institution being a “taxi service for illegal gangs pushing migrants” into Britain.
Even if Neil’s GB News shares turn out to be worthless, he still has his own “artistic creation” business, Glenburn Enterprises, to keep him in hairspray. It had £10.8m on its books the last time I looked.
Queen Elizabeth II 1926-202
