Future plc

Is Future plc publicly traded?

Yes. Future trades on the London Stock Exchange under ticker FUTR. It has been listed since 1999.

What does Future plc own?

Future owns more than 170 specialist media brands including Marie Claire, Who What Wear, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, GamesRadar+, PC Gamer, The Week, Kiplinger, and Go.Compare.

When was Future founded?

Chris Anderson founded the company in Bath, England, in 1985 as a computer magazine publisher.

Who is the CEO of Future?

Kevin Li Ying has been CEO since March 2025, a 20-year company veteran who previously led the largest division.

How much revenue does Future make?

Future reported 739.2 million pounds in revenue for fiscal 2025, ended September 30, 2025, with a 28 percent adjusted operating margin.

Does Future own Who What Wear?

Yes. Future acquired Who What Wear from Clique Brands in 2022 for a reported 131 million dollars, integrating it into the women's lifestyle vertical.

Chris Anderson founded Future in Bath, England, in 1985 as a computer magazine publisher, launching titles like Amstrad Action that rode the home computing wave. The company grew through the 1980s and 1990s into a significant specialist magazine group covering gaming, music, and technology, listing on the London Stock Exchange in 1999.

The internet nearly killed it. Print decline through the 2000s and 2010s reduced Future to a struggling magazine publisher, and the company's modern form dates to a turnaround led by Zillah Byng-Thorne, who became CFO in 2013 and CEO from 2014. Her strategy was acquisition at scale: buy distressed specialist brands cheap, strip costs, and plug them into a centralized digital platform.

The deal list transformed the business: Imagine Publishing, Team Rock, and Purch's consumer division added gaming and tech scale. The 2019 TI Media acquisition brought Marie Claire, Woman and Home, and Country Life. The 2021 Dennis Publishing deal added The Week and Kiplinger, the 2021 Go.Compare acquisition moved into price comparison, and the 2022 purchase of Who What Wear from Clique Brands extended the women's lifestyle vertical in the US.

Byng-Thorne departed in 2023, succeeded briefly by Jon Steinberg, then by Kevin Li Ying in March 2025, a 20-year Future veteran who had led the largest division. Fiscal 2025, ended September 30, 2025, produced revenue of 739.2 million pounds, down 6 percent, with the adjusted operating margin held at 28 percent through cost discipline and share buybacks.

The company publishes sustainability reporting covering its operations and has disclosed net-zero commitments aligned with science-based targets, though as a digital media business its environmental footprint is structurally limited to offices and data infrastructure.

Its ethics profile centers on editorial standards and disclosure practices across affiliate commerce and sponsored content, governed by UK advertising rules and its own editorial codes.

Diversity and governance reporting follows UK listed company requirements, with the board and workforce disclosures produced annually per listing obligations.

Go.Compare acquisition scrutiny: The 2021 price comparison purchase drew questions about strategic fit in a media company, and the business has underperformed the purchase price in a softening car insurance market, with non-car diversification now at 39 percent of revenue.

B2B exit: The company's exploration of selling its B2B arm including SmartBrief was reported in 2025, an admission that the segment's model did not fit the platform strategy.

Print decline: The continuing wind-down of legacy print titles, while economically rational, draws periodic criticism from magazine industry observers for the managed decline of once-significant publications.