News Corp

News Corporation, stylized as News Corp,[2] is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The second incarnation of the original News Corporation, it was formed on June 28, 2013, following a spin-off of the media outlets of the original News Corp. Operating across digital real estate information, news media, book publishing, and cable television, 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.

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

News Corporation
News Corp
TypePublic
ISINUS65249B1098
US65249B2088
IndustryMedia
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$10.39 billion (2022)
US$0.981 billion (2022)
US$0.623 billion (2022)
Total assets US$17.22 billion (2022)
Total equity US$9.14 billion (2022)
OwnerMurdoch family (39% voting power)
Number of employees
~24,000 (2021)
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 broadcasting and media properties such as Fox Entertainment Group.[3] The spin-out was structured so that 21st Century Fox was the legal continuation of the original News Corporation, with the new News Corp being a new company formed by a stock split. Following the acquisition of a majority of 21st Century Fox assets by The Walt Disney Company in 2019,[4] Fox Corporation, which is News Corp's sister company and successor to the former 21st Century Fox, is also owned and controlled by the Murdoch family.

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 Dublin, Ireland-based social news agency Storyful,[18] a startup founded by journalist Mark Little.[19] At the time, Storyful was described as "scour[ing] social-media services like Twitter and Instagram" to discover user-generated content—"breaking news and viral online content"—and after sourcing, to then verify, acquire, and distribute it.[18][19] Storyful had, for instance, reported 2013 results of 750m views of user-generated videos by its partners.[19] The cost of the Storyful acquisition was €18 million (£15m, US$25m)[19],[18] and marked News Corp's first acquisition since the split.[18] News Corp CEO at the time, Robert Thomson, stated that the service had "become the village square for valuable video, using journalistic sensibility, integrity and creativity", and that with the acquisition, News Corp would "define the opportunities that the digital landscape presents, rather than simply adapt to them".[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 of which was, at the time, owned by REA Group, a publicly traded subsidiary of News Corp Australia.[22]

News Corp also began making investments in India in late 2014, such as a $30 million investment in real estate site ProTiger in November,[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. On July 31, 2020, James Murdoch resigned from the News Corp board of directors, "due to disagreements over certain editorial content published by the Company's news outlets and certain other strategic decisions."[29]

On February 4, 2022, News Corp suffered a cyberattack from hackers believed to be linked to China.[30]

Potential re-merger with Fox Corporation

In October 14, 2022, it was announced that, under the instruction of Rupert Murdoch, a special committee had been established to explore a potential merger of Fox and News Corp, bringing the two companies back together after the former 21st Century Fox was spun-off from News Corp in 2013.[31]

Assets

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][32]

  • News UK, a British newspaper publisher (includes subsidiary News Ireland), and owners of radio broadcaster Wireless Group.
  • Dow Jones & Company, a New York City-based financial publisher, and owner of the Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch and Barron's
  • News Corp Australia, an Australian newspaper and magazine publisher, owns 65% of pay-TV provider Foxtel (which owns Fox Sports Australia) and REA Group
  • New York Post, a daily newspaper in New York City acquired by Rupert Murdoch in 1976.
  • HarperCollins, a major book trade publisher
  • Tremor International, a video advertising platform (6.91%).

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.com. Bloomberg L.P. December 3, 2012. 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". Financial Times. June 19, 2013. 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. N.Y. Bus. J. Staff (September 4, 2013). "News Corp. Sells 33 Papers to New York Investors". New York Business Journal. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  17. Pearson, Sophia & Kary, Tiffany (September 27, 2013). "GateHouse Files for Bankruptcy as Part of Fortress Plan". Bloomberg. Retrieved November 23, 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. Sharma, Amol and Rubin, Ben Fox (December 20, 2013). "News Corp Makes Social-Media Push". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 23, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. Deans, Jason (December 20, 2013), "News Corp buys Storyful for £15m", The Guardian, retrieved November 23, 2021
  20. ABC News Staff (May 2, 2014). "News Corp. to Buy Harlequin for $415M". ABCNews.go.com. Archived from the original on May 3, 2014. Retrieved August 3, 2014 – via Associated Press.
  21. DeMarchi, L. (August 1, 2014). "Torstar Corporation Completes Sale of Harlequin Enterprises Limited [Torstar press release]". Mediacaster Magazine. Business Information Group. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  22. de la Merced, Michael J. & Steel, Emily (September 30, 2014). "News Corp. to Buy Move, a Real Estate Listings Site". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 28, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2014.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. Russell, Jon (November 25, 2014). "News Corp Makes First Investment in India, Putting $30M into Real Estate Site PropTiger". TechCrunch. Yahoo. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  24. Russell, Jon (December 21, 2014). "News Corp Buys India-Based Financial Planning Service BigDecisions.com". TechCrunch. Yahoo. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  25. Sarkar, Ranju (March 10, 2015). "News Corp acquires Indian media firm VCCircle Network". Business Standard India. Retrieved November 23, 2010.
  26. Reuters Staff (September 30, 2015). "News Corp Sells Digital Education Brand Amplify". Reuters.com. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  27. Gallivan, Rory (June 25, 2016). "News Corp Buys Wireless Group for $296 Million". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  28. Lodderhose, Diana (July 1, 2016). "News Corp. Moves into Radio, Acquires U.K. Giant Wireless Group". Variety. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  29. Ivanova, Irina (August 1, 2020). "James Murdoch Resigns from News Corp Board over Editorial Differences". CBS News. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  30. Robertson, Katie (February 4, 2022). "News Corp says journalists' emails were hacked in an attack linked to China". The New York Times. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  31. "Rupert Murdoch considering merging Fox and News Corp once again". the Guardian. October 15, 2022. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  32. 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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