Glastonbury profits more than double amid ‘corporate’ criticism

Glastonbury Festival has reported profits more than doubled last year, as the event faces criticism for being too corporate.

The festival brought in £5.9 million in pre-tax profit for the year to March 2024, up from £2.9 million the year before, according to accounts filed with Companies House.

Glastonbury gave £5.2 million to organisations including Oxfam, Greenpeace and WaterAid during the period, continuing its policy of handing most of its profit to charitable causes.

But it is still facing criticism by musician Neil Young for being “under corporate control” of the BBC.

The Canadian singer-songwriter, 79, who headlined the festival in 2009, said he and his band were told to “do a lot of things” they were not interested in.

He said: “We will not be playing Glastonbury on this tour because it is a corporate turn-off, and not for me like it used to be.”

The BBC is the exclusive broadcast partner of Glastonbury and has worked closely with the festival since 1997.

However, the festival also has partnerships with companies including the Co-op and telecoms giant Vodafone.

Despite the musician’s criticism, Glastonbury’s profits remain relatively small in comparison with its overall revenue, which was £68.4 million, a 20% rise on the year before.

In 2023, festival commissioned a report to gauge its economic impact locally and across the UK, which found it generated about £168 million for UK businesses.

The event has also had to recover from not being able to go ahead during Covid-19, with the 2020 and 2021 editions of the festival not happening.

Organisers have not yet revealed who will headline the festival in 2025, except that Sir Rod Stewart will be performing.

Glastonbury is planning on taking a fallow year in 2026 to allow the farmland to recover, co-creator Michael Eavis said last year.

Mr Eavis has passed the day-to-day running of the festival to his daughter Emily in recent years, but officially transferred his financial shares in the company to her in October 2024, the accounts show.

The company spent £3.7 million on buying land in June 2024.

The event welcomed about 210,000 people to Worthy Farm in Somerset last year, with headliners Dua Lipa, Coldplay and SZA.

Glastonbury Festival has been approached for comment.

Published: 02/01/2025 by Radio NewsHub