It began as an alternative magazine alongside other members of the underground press in the UK, but by 1980 it abandoned its original collective decision making structure (and commitment to equal pay for all its workers), leading to the foundation of a competing City Limits magazine by former staffers. By now its former radicalism has all but vanished. As one example of its editorial bent in the 1970s, London's Time Out published 60 names of purported CIA agents stationed in England in 1976.

Tony Elliott remains the owner of the Group. In 2003, the Group reported revenues of £25m and a profit of £228,000. Elliott values his company at "more than £30m". The Sunday Times Richlist 2008 valued it at £40m.

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