By Andrew Ellson
June 30th, 2025
The owner of Glastonbury festival has transferred most of his financial interest in the event to his daughter and a family trust, potentially avoiding a huge inheritance tax bill.
Sir Michael Eavis, 89, gave his entire shareholding in Glastonbury Festival Events Ltd, the operational company responsible for running the festival and selling tickets, to his daughter Emily, 45, in October. Last year the company sold 145,000 tickets to the event at about £300 each. Pre-tax profits doubled to nearly £6 million after revenues jumped 20 per cent to £68 million.
By transferring the company that runs the festival to his daughter, and by transferring most of the shares in the holding company to a family trust, Eavis could therefore potentially save nearly £80 million in inheritance tax (IHT).
Financial experts suggested that Eavis may have decided to transfer the assets after tax advisers told him that HM Revenue & Customs would not accept a valuation of his companies for IHT purposes based upon the festival having some “quasi-charitable position”. While Glastonbury operates with a strong charitable ethos — last year it gave more than £5.9 million to good causes — it remains a private company and is not a charity, so HMRC is likely to value it as such when considering an IHT bill.
Andrew Ellson, Consumer Affairs Correspondent, Award-winning Times Journalist
