Gary Lineker has shared in a £5m dividend after Britain’s biggest independent podcast business toasted bumper profit.

Lineker, a former England footballer and BBC presenter who co-founded Goalhanger and remains one of its largest shareholders, collected more than £1m of the payout after it reported rocketing membership numbers and pre-tax profit of £10m.

The Kennington-based business, which produces the Rest is History, the Rest is Politics and the Rest is Entertainment, cheered turnover of £38m in 2025 following a more than doubling of paid subscribers to 243,000, which the company said showed “the love that audiences have for our shows and our talent.”

The firm hired an extra 20 staff during the year, bringing its total employee headcount to 54 following the launch of the Rest is Science, the Rest is Football and the Rest is Classified podcasts.

The firm said 2025 was a year “of significant growth and financial outperformance for Goalhanger. 

“The company exceeded its own expectations in audience reach, engagement and financial performance, establishing a strong foundation for future expansion.

“Goalhanger continues to attract an affluent, influential and highly-engaged audience which remains a key asset in securing premium advertising and partnership deals.”

The firm said the introduction of video on Spotify was a key element driving its success, which helped it “find new audiences and has presented new opportunities to offer creative solutions to advertisers,” adding that it recorded a whopping 667m plays on audio and video across 13 shows.

The rest is investment

Goalhanger is now reinvesting the fruits of its success by building stakes in other media startups with the launch of its own venture capital arm, City AM revealed earlier this year.

Jack Davenport, co-founder of Goalhanger, said: “Goalhanger Ventures is about giving exceptional creator-led businesses the infrastructure to grow without losing what made them special in the first place. 

“Our role is to help them scale thoughtfully, commercially and creatively, while protecting the independence, personality and quality that their communities already respond to.

Among the directors of the Goalhanger’s venture unit is Greg Bettinelli, partner at investment firm The Chernin Group, which invested in the podcast business in January, in signs the venture unit may also seek to attract external funding.

Lineker struck a deal with Netflix in December which saw the US streaming giant carry The Rest is Football on its platform during the World Cup.