Clarkson parks £21m online loss

PETROLHEADS Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May may have made millions through the success of their TV shows, but their foray into social media has spluttered.

Their DriveTribe venture has racked up £21 million in losses in the four years since the online community for car fanatics was created. The company behind it is Digital Tribe Holdings and its chief executive, Jonathan Morris, tells me the loss is large because it counts investment that has been made into the company – backers i nclude Disney and Elisabeth Murdoch, t he TV executive daughter of media mogul Rupert.

‘It’s just the way accounts are reported in the UK – investment counts towards losses and we have made a lot of inward investment,’ Morris says. ‘We have a longer-term plan and have seen some strong growth.’