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News Corporation

Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate split into two companies in 2013.

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News Corporation

via Wikipedia: News Corporation · see source

Rupert Murdoch created News Corp in 1980 to serve as a holding entity for News Limited.[1] In terms of total assets, the conglomerate ranked first globally among media companies before its division, and fourth when measured by revenue.[2]

ABC News (2017)
ABC News (2017). Image: Australian Broadcasting Corporation · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Key facts and history

On May 6, 1985, News Corp announced it was buying Metromedia television stations for $3.5 billion, setting the stage for the Fox Broadcasting Company, which launched on October 9, 1986.[3] In 1987, News Corp acquired Harper and Row for $300 million, and in 1989 bought William Collins, Sons for $721 million, merging them to form HarperCollins.[4] In July 2007, News Corp reached a deal to acquire Dow Jones & Company, owners of The Wall Street Journal, for $5 billion.[5] James Edward Davidson established News Limited in Adelaide during 1923, with financial backing from the Collins House mining empire intended to produce anti-union propaganda; subsequently, the Herald & Weekly Times obtained control.[1]

Arthur Oscar Freudenberg (1891-1968) of the Edley Corporation in The Herald-News of Passaic, New Jersey on July 19, 1949
Arthur Oscar Freudenberg (1891-1968) of the Edley Corporation in The Herald-News of Passaic, New Jersey on July 19, 1949. Image: Unknown author · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

News Ltd. entered the U.S. market for the first time in 1973 by acquiring the San Antonio Express and News, and then in 1976 spent $31 million to buy the New York Post.[6] A 50% interest in TCF Holdings, which owned 20th Century Fox, was obtained by News Corp in March 1985 for $162 million; the outstanding portion was purchased that September for $325 million.[7] The social networking site Myspace was bought by News Corporation in July 2005 for $580 million.[8] Rupert Murdoch declared on June 28, 2012, that News Corporation would be divided into two separate publicly traded firms, with one focusing on media and the other on publishing.[9]

Aju News Corporation logo
Aju News Corporation logo. Image: Airpods59 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

On June 11, 2013, the company's shareholders voted to approve the division; the newly formed News Corporation started trading on the Nasdaq as of July 1, 2013.[10]

BBC News 2022 (Alt)
BBC News 2022 (Alt). Image: British Broadcasting Corporation · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

What the cited sources add

The Guardian reported that Murdoch caved to the split after the phone-hacking scandal shook the company, leading to the closure of the News of the World.[11] The BBC reported that TV and film divisions accounted for roughly 85% of the group's revenues at the time of the split.[12] The BBC also stated that News Corp wrote down the value of its publishing business by up to $1.4 billion, blaming declining sales and advertising revenues.[12] Financier Worldwide reported that in August 2014, 21st Century Fox withdrew its $80 billion unsolicited offer for Time Warner after Time Warner's board rejected it.[13]

BBC News 2022
BBC News 2022. Image: British Broadcasting Corporation · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

National Geographic reported that in September 2015, 21st Century Fox and the National Geographic Society formed National Geographic Partners, with Fox owning 73 percent of the new media company.[14] The Deadline Hollywood article stated that News Corp acquired a 49 percent equity stake in the YES Network in November 2012, with an option to acquire up to 80 percent after three years.[15]

CBC News Logo
CBC News Logo. Image: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

References

  1. Wikipedia, "News Corporation" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Young, "The secret history of News Corp: a media empire built on spreading propaganda", The Conversation, May 15, 2019; Merrett, "Collins House", eMelbourne (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "News Corporation" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Forbes"; "Fortune", CNN, May 2026; "PowerPoint Presentation"; Siklos, "Why Disney wants DreamWorks", CNN, February 9, 2009; "News Corporation – Annual Report 2007", Newscorp.com, June 30, 2007 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "News Corporation" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "MURDOCH TO BUY & TV STATIONS; COST $2 BILLION", The New York Times, May 7, 1985; "Rupert Murdoch buys Metromedia", May 4, 1985; "Murdoch Becomes U.S. Citizen, Can Buy TV Network", Los Angeles Times, September 4, 1985 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "News Corporation" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: McDowell, "MURDOCH TO BUY HARPER & ROW IN SURPRISE DEAL", The New York Times, March 31, 1987; "Murdoch to Buy Harper & Row for $300 Million", Los Angeles Times, March 31, 1987; "Murdoch Takes Over Collins For $721 Million", Los Angeles Times, January 7, 1989; "Murdoch wins takeover for Collins publishers", United Press International, January 6, 1989; Cohen, "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Birth of a Global Book Giant", The New York Times, June 11, 1990 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "News Corporation" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rupert Murdoch Speaks His Mind, Business Week, February 2007.; "Uh-oh! Looks like your site is down", www.bowmanandcompany.com.au}}{{failed verification, September 2022; "Murdoch Wins His Bid for Dow Jones", The Wall Street Journal (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "News Corporation" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Domel, "Rupert Murdoch's 1973 purchase of E-N", From the Vault, 2011-07-29; "Dorothy Schiff Agrees to Sell Post To Murdoch, Australian Publisher", The New York Times, November 20, 1976 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "News Corporation" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "MURDOCH BUYS CHICAGO SUN-TIMES", The New York Times, November 2, 1983; Wayne, "Murdoch Buys 12 Ziff Publication", The New York Times, November 22, 1984; Stevenson, "MURDOCH IS BUYING 50% OF FOX", The New York Times, March 21, 1985; Schrage, "Murdoch Agrees to Buy A 50 Percent Share of 20th Century Fox Film", Washington Post, March 21, 1985; Storch, "MURDOCH BUYING HALF OF 20TH CENTURY-FOX", Chicago Tribune, March 21, 1985; "Murdoch to Buy Davis' 20th Century-Fox Share", The Washington Post, September 24, 1985; "MURDOCH WILL BUY OUT DA en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "News Corporation" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Lapinski, "MySpace: The Business of Spam 2.0 (Exhaustive Edition)", ValleyWag, September 11, 2006; "News Corp in $580m internet buy", BBC News, July 19, 2005; Haden, "MySpace Layoffs Are A Good Reminder how Uncool Rupert Murdock's acquisition of the social media was?", January 12, 2011; Haden, "MySpace Layoffs Are A Good Reminder how Uncool Rupert Murdock's acquisition of the social media was?", January 12, 2011; "Internet Entrepreneur & Myspace Founder Brad Greenspan Leads Investment Group Seeking to Take Non-Controlling Stake in Dow en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "News Corporation" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Uh-oh! Looks like your site is down", www.bowmanandcompany.com.au}}{{failed verification, September 2022 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "News Corporation" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Rupert Murdoch splits empire but keeps faith in tomorrow's newspapers", The Guardian, June 18, 2013; Wall, "News Corp shareholders vote to split company into two", BBC News, June 11, 2013; "'New News Corp' makes muted stock market debut", Financial Times, June 19, 2013; Summerfield, "$80 Billion FOX-Time Warner deal off", financierworldwide, October 2014; Parker, "National Geographic and 21st Century Fox Expand Media Partnership", National Geographic, September 9, 2015 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  11. "Rupert Murdoch splits empire but keeps faith in tomorrow's newspapers", The Guardian, June 18, 2013. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
  12. Wall, "News Corp shareholders vote to split company into two", BBC News, June 11, 2013. facts only, no text reused. bbc.co.uk
  13. Summerfield, "$80 Billion FOX-Time Warner deal off", financierworldwide, October 2014. facts only, no text reused. financierworldwide.com
  14. Parker, "National Geographic and 21st Century Fox Expand Media Partnership", National Geographic, September 9, 2015. facts only, no text reused. nationalgeographic.com
  15. "It's Official: News Corp Buys 49% Of YES Network", Deadline Hollywood, November 20, 2012. facts only, no text reused. deadline.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article News Corporation (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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