News Corp

The current incarnation of News Corporation,[2] stylized as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company operating across digital real estate information, news media, book publishing, and cable television. It was formed in 2013 as a spin-off of the original News Corporation (as founded by Rupert Murdoch in 1980). The company is headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware.

This article is about the current company established in 2013. For its predecessor company, see News Corporation.

News Corporation
News Corp
TypePublic
ISINUS65249B1098
US65249B2088
IndustryMass media
PredecessorNews Corporation
Founded
  • June 28, 2013 (2013-06-28)
FounderRupert Murdoch
Headquarters1211 Avenue of the Americas,
New York City
,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Products
  • Newspapers
  • Books
Revenue US$10.070 billion (2019)
US$-1.089 billion (2018)
US$229 million (2019)
Total assets US$16.346 billion (2018)
Total equity US$9.291 billion (2018)
OwnerMurdoch family (39% voting power)
Number of employees
~28,000 (2018)
SubsidiariesList of subsidiaries
Websitenewscorp.com
Footnotes / references
[1]

It is one of two companies that succeeded the original News Corporation, alongside 21st Century Fox—which consisted of the old News Corporation's broadcasting and media properties, such as Fox Entertainment Group.[3] The spin-out was structured so that 21st Century Fox would be the legal successor and continuation of the original News Corporation, with the new News Corp being an entirely new company formed by a stock split. Following the acquisition of most of 21st Century Fox assets by The Walt Disney Company in 2019,[4] Fox Corporation, which is the News Corp's sister company and successor of the former 21st Century Fox, is also owned and controlled by the Murdoch family.

Its notable assets include Dow Jones & Company (publisher of The Wall Street Journal), News UK (publisher of The Sun and The Times), News Corp Australia, REA Group (operator of realestate.com.au), Realtor.com, and book publisher HarperCollins.

History

Formation

On June 28, 2012, Rupert Murdoch announced that News Corporation's publishing operations would be spun off to form a new, publicly traded company.[5][6] Murdoch stated that performing this split would "unlock the true value of both companies and their distinct assets, enabling investors to benefit from the separate strategic opportunities resulting from more focused management of each division". The move also came in the wake of a series of scandals that had damaged the reputation of multiple News Corporation-owned properties.[5][7] Robert James Thomson, editor of The Wall Street Journal, was announced as the initial chief operating officer for the company; while Murdoch would not serve as CEO, he remained chairman and a shareholder of the new News Corp.[5][8] Thomson promised that the new company would "cultivate a start-up sensibility even though we already work for the world's most established and prestigious diversified media and information services company", and would emphasize building new business models around its properties and content.[9] The logo of the new News Corporation was unveiled at an investor presentation on May 28, 2013; the handwritten logo uses script based on Murdoch's own handwriting.[9]

News Corp's board approved the split on May 24, 2013, while shareholders approved the split on June 11;[7][10][11] Preliminary trading on the Australian Securities Exchange of the new News Corp's class B stock began on June 19, 2013, at around $15 per share; a value slightly lower than expected by some analysts. The shares fell in price by 3% to $14.55 per share, valuing the new company at around $7.9 billion US.[12][13] The corporate split was finalized on June 28, 2013; during the stock splitting process, one share of the new News Corp was given to shareholders for every four shares they owned in the former News Corp.[13] The current News Corp began trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol "NWS" on July 1, 2013; at the same time, the former News Corporation (which encompassed purely of media properties, such as Fox Entertainment Group and 20th Century Fox) was renamed 21st Century Fox.[14][15]

After the split

On September 4, 2013, News Corp announced that it would sell the Dow Jones Local Media Group, a group of 33 local newspapers, to Newcastle Investment Corp.—an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group, for $87 million. The newspapers will be operated by GateHouse Media, a newspaper group owned by Fortress. Robert Thomson indicated that the newspapers "were not strategically consistent with the emerging portfolio" of the company.[16] GateHouse then filed for prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 27, 2013, to restructure its debt obligations to accommodate the acquisition.[17] then GateHouse emerged from bankruptcy on November 26, 2013.

On December 20, 2013, News Corp announced its acquisition of Mark Little's Storyful, a news agency specializing in verifying and distributing user-generated content relating to news events from social networking services, for $25 million, marking News Corp's first acquisition since the split. Robert Thomson stated that the service had "become the village square for valuable video, using journalistic sensibility, integrity and creativity to find, authenticate and commercialise user-generated content", and that with the purchase, News Corp would "define the opportunities that the digital landscape presents, rather than simply adapt to them".[18][19]

On May 2, 2014, News Corp acquired romance novel publisher Harlequin Enterprises from Torstar for $415 million.[20] The deal closed on August 1; it is now operated as a subsidiary of News Corp's HarperCollins.[21] On September 30, 2014, News Corp announced its acquisition of Move, Inc., a real estate listings company and owner of Realtor.com. A 20% stake is owned by REA Group, a publicly traded subsidiary of News Corp Australia.[22]

News Corp also began making multiple investments in India, such as a $30 million investment in real estate site ProTiger in November 2014,[23] the December 2014 purchase of BigDecisions.com, a financial planning website,[24] and the acquisition of Indian media firm VCCircle in March 2015.[25]

In October 2015, News Corp sold its digital education brand Amplify to a management team supported by a group of private investors for an undisclosed sum.[26] In June 2016, News Corp acquired Wireless Group (formerly UTV Media), a British radio broadcaster, for $296 million[27][28]

In January 2020, News Corp sold Unruly, an outstream video ad marketplace, in exchange of 6.91% of Tremor Video stock.

James Murdoch resigned from the News Corp board of directors on July 31, 2020 "due to disagreements over certain editorial content published by the Company's news outlets and certain other strategic decisions."[29]

Assets
For a more comprehensive list, see List of assets owned by News Corp.

The company consists of the former News Corp's newspaper and book publishing assets, together with the digital real estate advertising properties that are now its largest business and includes:[12][30]

See also

References
  1. "News Corporation 2018 Annual Report Form (10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. August 15, 2018. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  2. "10-K". www.sec.gov. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  3. James, Meg (June 28, 2013). "News Corp. divides into two companies; 21st Century Fox is born". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved December 14, 2018.
  4. Szalai, Georg; Bond, Paul (March 20, 2019). "Disney Closes $71.3 Billion Fox Deal, Creating Global Content Powerhouse". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  5. "News Corp confirms plan to split the media giant". BBC News. June 28, 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2012.
  6. "News Corp. Will Use Fox Name as Breakup Proceeds". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
  7. "News Corp. board approves company split, set for June 28". Los Angeles Times. May 24, 2013. Retrieved May 25, 2013.
  8. "New News is good news, says mogul". Business Day. South Africa. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  9. Szalai, Georg (May 28, 2013). "News Corp. Unveils Post-Split Logo Based on Rupert Murdoch's Handwriting". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  10. Wall, Matthew (June 11, 2013). "News Corp shareholders vote to split company into two". BBC News. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
  11. "News Corp. plans June 11 shareholder vote on company split". Los Angeles Times. April 30, 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
  12. "New News Corp starts trading at $15 per share". The Australian. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
  13. "'New News Corp' makes muted stock market debut". Retrieved June 19, 2013.
  14. "News Corp officially splits in two". BBC News. June 28, 2013. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  15. "Rupert Murdoch splits empire but keeps faith in tomorrow's newspapers". The Guardian. June 18, 2013. Retrieved June 18, 2013.
  16. "News Corp. sells 33 papers to New York investors". New York Business Journal. Retrieved September 4, 2013.
  17. "GateHouse Files for Bankruptcy as Part of Fortress Plan". Bloomberg.
  18. "News Corp Makes Social-Media Push". The Wall Street Journal. December 20, 2013. Retrieved December 27, 2013.
  19. Deans, Jason (December 20, 2013). "News Corp buys Storyful for £15m". The Guardian. Retrieved December 27, 2013.
  20. "News Corp. to Buy Harlequin for $415M". ABC News. May 2, 2014. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
  21. "Torstar Corporation Completes Sale of Harlequin Enterprises Limited". Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  22. "News Corp. to Buy Move, a Real Estate Listings Site". The New York Times. September 30, 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
  23. "News Corp Makes First Investment in India, Putting $30M into Real Estate Site PropTiger". TechCrunch. AOL. Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  24. "News Corp Buys India-Based Financial Planning Service BigDecisions.com". TechCrunch. December 21, 2014. Retrieved December 21, 2014.
  25. Sarkar, Ranju (March 10, 2015). "News Corp acquires Indian media firm VCCircle Network". Business Standard India. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
  26. "News Corp sells digital education brand Amplify". Reuters. September 30, 2015.
  27. "News Corp Buys Wireless Group for $296 Million". The Wall Street Journal. June 25, 2016. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
  28. "News Corp. Moves into Radio, Acquires U.K. Giant Wireless Group". Variety. July 1, 2016. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
  29. "James Murdoch resigns from News Corp board over editorial differences". www.cbsnews.com.
  30. Sweney, Mark (December 21, 2012). "News Corp's head of demerged newspaper arm may take home £2.5m". The Guardian. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
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