Shareholders Meeting – Update

We are very ambitious for the future of Byline Times, and with your help we have managed to make great strides this year and plan even more next year. Here is an update on preparation for the shareholders meeting on Wednesday 9 September.

Business Overview

The last year has been a busy one for both investigations and developing our offering generally, as we continue to professionalise Byline Times as we move from a start-up to a robust operation and business so we can fulfil our mission to be the leading independent and fearless media in the UK.

Byline Times Ltd continues to be profitable in a very tough marketplace. In January we increased our revenue with a price rise, and in the last couple of months our subscriber numbers have started to increase substantially after a flat 18 months. 

Over the past year we have continued our programme of efficiencies that has led to more than £220,000 per annum savings in freelance, staff and tech costs as well as from our suppliers generally, including bringing our design back in-house. We have changed printers, enabling us to get much better paper at the same price. These savings have enabled us to hire a head of investigations and to focus more of our resources on journalism. 

The Competitive Environment – Independent Media Sector

The independent media sector continues to be very competitive, with new entrants and competition from Substack. Cost of living concerns and increasing competition have led to many people reducing the number of subscriptions, which is why our recent growth in subscriptions is so welcome. We continue to grow in retail, and our distribution is extending to more outlets.

Redesign and Relaunch

The growth of the independent media sector and the launch of new entrants, such as The Nerve, Zeteo UK and Left Field, have led us to review our positioning and marketing as well as our product. Therefore, we are relaunching Byline Times over the next 6 months, and we will make sure you are kept informed of progress. 

The first phase of this development is the redesign of the Byline Times monthly news publication. Our editor-in-chief, Hardeep Matharu, with the help of our new art director, Sonny Dhamu, has redesigned the magazine with better paper and a much more stylish and quality feel. Following research amongst our subscribers, we have increased our culture content as well as keeping investigations, news and analysis. The first redesigned edition will be our October edition available at the end of the month and we are keen for your feedback when you have had a chance to read it. This redesign will be followed by a relaunch of Byline Times in the first half of next year.

News and Investigations

Our investigations team, headed up by Nafeez Ahmed, has had a very busy year. With the help of our chief reporter, Josiah Mortimer, Byline Times has continued to be the leading publication investigating Reform and the far right. This included investigations into the direct connections with the Kremlin of Nathan Gill, the former leader of Reform in Wales, who was imprisoned for 10 and a half years. Nafeez has, more recently, looked deeper into the Montenegrin background of one of Farage’s key aides and fundraisers, the convicted fraudster George Cottrell.

Also, the last year has seen the publication of many of the Epstein files. Peter Jukes and Nafeez Ahmed forensically analysed these and established the links between Putin and Silicon Valley, and those between Steve Bannon, Jeffrey Epstein, Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson.

More recently, we’ve turned our focus to Cambridge University with our six-month-long investigation into associate professor James Orr, his proximity to Palantir founder Peter Thiel and his protegee JD Vance, as well as his role recruiting students while serving as head of policy for Reform UK.

At the time of this meeting, we are preparing further investigations into Cambridge and the relentless media and far right attack on Professor Jason Arday. 

Increasing Impact through Events

Byline Times is keen to increase its impact and meet more of its readers and supporters by running events. Our series of events at The Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone have brought experts, journalists and commentators together to explore a wide range of topics from the Lure of Loneliness to the Lure of Strong Men. In July we partnered with WOMAD festival to run their speaker programme, and many of you joined us. Our speakers included the leader of the Green Party, Zach Polanski (following on from Andy Burnham who gave the closing speech at our festival last year), Professor Sarah Churchwell, Clive Lewis MP and founder of the Lincoln Project, Rick Wilson, who flew over from Florida to join us and founder of WOMAD, Peter Gabriel. We then held an event in London with Rick Wilson at which Count Binface took part. 

The Future

The future of Byline Times is very exciting. The redesign of the publication will be followed by the redesign of the website and a major relaunch that will position Byline Times as leading the independent media sector. We will continue to strengthen our team and invest wisely to ensure we build Byline Times and increase its impact in an ever-changing and challenging world.