News Corporation

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News Corporation
Type	Public: (NYSE: NWS, NYSE: NWSa, ASX: NWS, LSE: NCRA)
Founded	Adelaide, Australia (1979)
Headquarters	Incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, headquartered in New York City, formerly in Adelaide, Australia
Key people	Rupert Murdoch, CEO and Chairman Peter Chernin, COO David DeVoe, CFO
Industry	Mass media
Products	Film and television production, television networks, satellite television, newspapers and magazines, book publishing, sports, websites
Revenue	USD $25.327 billion (Y.E. 30 June 2006)
Employees	47,300 (2006)
Website	www.newscorp.com

News Corporation (abbreviated to News Corp) (NYSE: NWS, NYSE: NWSa, ASX: NWS, LSE: NCRA) is one of the world's largest media conglomerates. Its chief executive officer is Rupert Murdoch.

News Corporation is a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Australian Stock Exchange and as a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange. Formerly incorporated in Adelaide, Australia, the company was re-incorporated in the United States state of Delaware after a majority of shareholders approved the move on November 12, 2004.

News Corporation's headquarters is at 1211 Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Ave), in New York City, in the newer 1960s-1970s corridor of the Rockefeller Center complex.

Revenue for the year ended 30 June 2005 was US$23.859 billion. This does not include News Corporation's share of the revenue of businesses in which it owns a minority stake, which include two of its most important assets, DirecTV and BSkyB. Almost 70% of the company's sales come from its US businesses.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Controversies 1.2 Moving into the United States 2 Shareholders 3 Corporate governance 4 Holdings 4.1 Books 4.2 Newspapers 4.3 Magazines 4.4 Music / Radio 4.5 Sport 4.6 Studios 4.7 TV 4.7.1 Broadcast 4.7.2 Satellite television 4.7.3 Cable 4.8 Internet 4.9 Other assets 5 References 6 External links

[edit] History

See News International, News Limited and Rupert Murdoch for more history.

News Corporation was created in 1980 by Rupert Murdoch as a holding company for News Limited. News Limited was created by Murdoch from the assets he inherited in 1952 following the death of his father, Sir Keith Murdoch, and subsequent expansion. The main asset left to him was ownership of the Adelaide News.

In 1986 and 1987, News Corp (through subsidiary News International) moved to adjust the production process of its British newspapers, over which the printing unions had long maintained a highly restrictive grip.^[1] A number of senior Australian media moguls were brought into Murdoch's powerhouse, including John Dux, who was managing director of the South China Post. This led to a confrontation with the printing unions NGA and SOGAT. The move of News International's London operation to Wapping in the East End resulted in nightly battles outside the new plant. Delivery vans and depots were frequently and violently attacked.^[2] Ultimately the unions capitulated and other media companies soon followed Murdoch's lead in the Wapping dispute.

[edit] Controversies

Over its many years and spheres of operation, News Corporation has attracted a number of allegations:

- The Chris Patten Book – Chris Patten was a British politician who became the governor of Hong Kong just prior to its handover to China. A biography of Chris Patten was due to be published by Harper Collins (part of News Corporation) but it was dropped. It was alleged that the reasoning behind the drop was due to the fact that it was critical of China's human rights. News Corporation was, at the time, trying to complete a deal regarding Star TV. ^[3]

- Media Monopoly - News Corporation is often accused of using the combined power of its consolidated media assets to push out rivals and push towards a media monopoly. An Example of an accusation would be News Corporation's attempt to buy the football club Manchester United. In 1998 News Corp bid £623.4 million for the UK based football club. Its fans were outraged and raised the question of an encroaching monopoly, as News Corporation owned the rights to broadcast the all premier league matches, of which Manchester United was one. It was alleged that by controlling Manchester United, News Corporation could influence the decisions about the selling of the rights to broadcast all premiere league matches. ^[4]

[edit] Moving into the United States

News Corp made its first acquisition in the United States in 1973, when it purchased the San Antonio Express-News. Soon afterwards it founded the National Star, a supermarket tabloid, and in 1976 it purchased the New York Post. In 1981 News Corp bought half the movie studio 20th Century Fox, buying the other half in 1984. In 1985 News Corp announced it was buying the Metromedia group of stations, setting the stage for the launch of a fourth U.S. broadcast network. On September 4, 1985, Murdoch became a naturalized citizen to satisfy the legal requirement that only United States citizens could own American television stations. In 1986, the Metromedia deal closed, and the Fox Broadcasting Company was launched.

This network, known on-screen as "Fox", can now be picked up in over 96% of U.S. households. In 1987 News Corp bought The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd in Australia, the company that Rupert Murdoch's father had once managed. By 1991, News Corp had amassed huge debts, which forced it to sell many of the American magazine interests it had acquired in the mid-1980s. Much of this debt came from its stake in the Sky Television satellite network in the UK, which incurred massive losses in its early years of operation, which (like many of its business interests) was heavily subsidized with profits from its other holdings until it was able to force rival satellite operator British Satellite Broadcasting to accept a merger on its terms in 1990. (The merged company, BSkyB has dominated the British pay-TV market since).

In 1995, the Fox network became the object of scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) when it was alleged that its Australian base made Murdoch's ownership of Fox illegal. The FCC, however, ruled in Murdoch's favor, stating that his ownership of Fox was in the public's best interests. In the same year News Corp announced a deal with MCI Communications to develop a major news website as well as funding a conservative news magazine, The Weekly Standard. In the same year, News Corp launched the Foxtel pay television network in Australia in a partnership with Telstra and Publishing and Broadcasting Limited.

In 1996, Fox established the Fox News Channel, a 24-hour cable news station.

In 1999, News Corp significantly expanded its music holdings in Australia by acquiring the controlling share in a leading Australian based label, Michael Gudinski's Mushroom Records; merging it with already held Festival Records to create Festival Mushroom Records (FMR). Both Festival and FMR were managed by Rupert Murdoch's son James Murdoch for several years.

In late 2003, News Corp acquired a 34 percent stake in Hughes Electronics, operator of the largest American satellite TV system, DirecTV, from General Motors for $6 billion (USD).

[edit] Shareholders

As of August 2005 the Murdoch family owns about 29% of the company. Nearly all of these shares are voting shares, and Rupert Murdoch retains effective control of the company. Nonetheless John Malone of Liberty Media has built up a larger stake of 32%, but only around half of these shares are voting shares. Saudi prince Al-Waleed bin Talal who is an investing tycoon and chairman of the Kingdom Holding Company said in an interview with Charlie Rose that he had about a 6-7% stake in News Corp. ^[5][6].

[edit] Corporate governance

Current members of the board of directors of News Corporation are: Peter Barnes, Chase Carey, Peter Chernin, Kenneth Cowley, David DeVoe, Viet Dinh, Rod Eddington, Andrew Knight, Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch (chairman), Rod Paige, Thomas Perkins, Arthur Siskind, Jose Maria Aznar, and John L. Thornton.

[edit] Holdings

[edit] Books

• HarperCollins book publishing company
  • ReganBooks now part of HarperCollins
• Zondervan Christian book publisher

[edit] Newspapers

• Australia
  • The Australian (Nationwide)
  • The Weekend Australian (Nationwide)
  • The Courier-Mail (Queensland)
  • The Sunday Mail (Queensland)
  • The Cairns Post (Cairns, Queensland)
  • The Gold Coast Bulletin (Gold Coast, Queensland)
  • The Townsville Bulletin (Townsville, Queensland)
  • The Daily Telegraph (New South Wales)
  • The Sunday Telegraph (New South Wales)
  • The Herald Sun (Victoria)
  • The Sunday Herald Sun (Victoria)
  • The Weekly Times (Victoria)
  • MX (Melbourne and Sydney CBD)
  • The Geelong Advertiser (Geelong, Victoria)
  • The Advertiser (South Australia)
  • The Sunday Mail (South Australia)
  • Messenger Newspapers (South Australia)
  • The Sunday Times (Western Australia)
  • The Mercury (Tasmania)
  • The Sunday Tasmanian (Tasmania)
  • Northern Territory News (Northern Territory)
  • The Sunday Territorian (Northern Territory)
  • The Tablelands Advertiser (Atherton Tablelands and the Far North, Queensland)
  • The Tablelander (Atherton Tablelands and the Far North, Queensland)
• Fiji
  • Fiji Times (National)
  • Nai Lalakai
  • Shanti Dut
• Papua New Guinea
  • Papua New Guinea Post-Courier (National)(62.5%)
• UK newspapers, published by subsidiaries of News International Ltd.
  • News Group Newspapers Ltd.
    • the tabloid The Sun
    • the tabloid News of the World
  • Times Newspapers Ltd.
    • the broadsheet The Sunday Times
    • the 'ex-broadsheet' (Now in compact form) The Times
    • the broadsheet The Times Literary Supplement
• US newspapers and magazines
  • the New York Post
  • The Timesledger Newspapers in Queens, New York: Bayside Times, Whitestone Times, Flushing Times, Fresh Meadows Times, Little Neck Ledger, Jackson Heights Times, Richmond Hill Times, Jamaica Times, Laurelton Times, Queens Village Times, Astoria Times, Forest Hills Ledger, Ridgewood Ledger, Howard Beach Times
  • The Courier-Life Newspapers in Brooklyn
  • Caribbean Life

[edit] Magazines

• SmartSource
• TV Guide, via partial ownership of Gemstar-TV Guide
• The Weekly Standard (Washington, D.C.)
• Australia
  • Alpha Magazine
  • Australian Country Style
  • Australian Golf Digest
  • Australian Good Taste
  • Big League
  • BCME
  • Delicious
  • Donna Hay
  • Fast Fours
  • GQ
  • Gardening Australia
  • InsideOut (Aust)
  • Lifestyle Pools
  • Live to Ride
  • Notebook:
  • Overlander 4WD
  • Modern Boating
  • Modern Fishing
  • Parents
  • Pure Health
  • Super Food Ideas
  • Truck Australia
  • Truckin' Life
  • twowheels
  • twowheels scooter
  • Vogue (Australia)
  • Vogue Entertaining & Travel
  • Vogue Living
• Love it! (UK based Magazine)
• InsideOut (UK Based Magazine)
• The Travel Magazine (UK Based Magazine)

[edit] Music / Radio

• MySpace Records
• India
  • Radio City (India radio station)(20%)held through STAR TV- commercial FM network with stations in 20 cities.
• Netherlands
  • Radio Veronica
• Russia
  • Nashe (50%)
  • Best FM (50%)

[edit] Sport

• 50% of National Rugby League (Australia and New Zealand)
• Majority ownership of the Brisbane Broncos(68.9%), Melbourne Storm and North Queensland Cowboys rugby league teams.
• Colorado Rockies (15%)

[edit] Studios

• 20th Century Fox film production company
• 20th Century Fox Television
• Fox Searchlight Pictures
• Fox 2000 Pictures
• Fox Television Studios
  • Natural History New Zealand - natural world documentaries, non-fiction programming.
• Fox Atomic - produces theatrical films, comics, and digital content targeting the 17-24 year olds. Aiming to produce/acquire eight films per year over a range of genres, specifically action and horror
• Fox Faith - Promotion and distribution of Christian and related "family friendly" movies on DVD and some thatrical release.
• Fox Studios Australia, Sydney, New South Wales
• Fox Studios Baja, Rosarito, Baja California
• Blue Sky Studios
• Fox Entertainment Group
• New Regency Productions (20%)
• Regency Television (50%)
• Regency Enterprises (20%) - parent company of New Regency Productions (50%), and Regency Television (50%).

[edit] TV

[edit] Broadcast

• Fox Broadcasting Company (FOX), a US broadcast television network
• My Network TV, a US broadcast television network
• Fox Television Stations Group, a group of owned and operated FOX television stations
• ITV (17.5%), a British broadcast television network and the UK's largest advertising revenue based broadcaster via BSkyB
• News Corp Europe
  • bTV, a broadcast television network in Bulgaria
  • b1TV, a broadcast television network in Romania, in partnership with S.C. NEWS ROMANIA S.A.
  • Fox Televizija, a broadcast television network in Serbia
  • Fox Turkey, a Turkish terrestrial channel (99%) (formerly TGRT)
  • Imedi Media Holding, a Georgian radio and TV broadcaster part-owned by News Corporation (30%)
    • Imedi Television
    • Radio Imedi
  • TV Puls (49%), a terrestrial channel in Poland, partial ownership held through 50% stake in TV Investycje.
  • Israel 10 (9%), a terrestrial channel in Israel.
• ANTV (20%), a private television station in Indonesia, under the administration and label of STAR TV
• Prime Television New Zealand - commercial TV station, interest held through stake in SKY Network Television

[edit] Satellite television

• BSkyB, United Kingdom (39.1% holding).
• DirecTV Group, North and South America (38.6% holding) - traded with John Malone for his large stake in News Corporation.
  • DirecTV, the largest U.S. satellite TV provider
  • DirecTV Latin America
  • Sky Brasil (Brazil) (co-owned with Globopar)
  • SKY Latin America (Mexico)
• Foxtel, Australia (25% holding),Australia's largest satellite and cable pay TV provider, a joint venture with Telstra and Publishing and Broadcasting Limited
• SKY Network Television , New Zealand (44%)
• Sky Italia, Italian satellite TV service
• STAR TV, an Asian satellite TV service
• Phoenix Satellite TV (17.6%), satellite TV network with landing rights in Hong Kong, and select provinces on Mainland China
• Tata Sky(20%), an Indian DTH TV service (in partnership with Tata Group)

[edit] Cable

CHANNELS

• Fox Movie Channel, an all-movie channel that airs commercial-free movies from 20th Century Fox film library
• Fox News Channel, a 24-hour news channel
• Fox Reality, a 'Reality TV'-themed channel
• Fox Sports Net, a chain of US regional cable television networks broadcasting local sporting events linked together by national sports news programming. Local channels include "Fox Sports Southwest", "Fox Sports Bay Area", etc. (some affiliates are owned by Cablevision).
• Fox College Sports, College Sports Network that consists of 3 regionally aligned channels
• SportSouth,a regional sports network in the United States, with its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. SportSouth, formerly Turner South
• Fox Sports International
  • Fox Soccer Channel, a United States digital cable network specializing mainly in soccer.
  • Fox Sports Middle East - English language sports network airing in Middle East countries including Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Labanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE & Yemen.
  • Fox Pan American Sports (37.9%) - joint venture with Hicks, Muse, and Tate & Furst.
    • Fox Sports en Español (50%), a Spanish-language North American cable sports network; its sports lineup is tailored to appeal to a Latin American audience.
    • Fox Sports en Latinoamérica, a Mexico-based Latin American satellite and cable sports network.
• FX Networks, a cable network broadcasting reruns of programming previously shown on other channels, but recently creating its own programming, including the Emmy Award-winning program The Shield.
• SPEED Channel
• Fuel TV
• The 101, DirecTV in-house channel on its satellite service, available throughout the United States
• Big Ten Network, college football & basketball cable channel being launched Aug 2007 (49%)
• National Geographic Channel (joint venture with National Geographic Magazine) 67%
• National Geographic Channel International 75%
• Fox International Channels, domestic cable channels offering different formats of Fox programming including FX, Fox Life, and Fox Crime amongst others. Countries of operation include Brazil, Bulgaria,Croatia, France, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Portugal, Singapore Serbia and Spain.
  • Latin America
    • Fox Latin American Channels - channels available in over 17 countries in Latin America
      • Canal FOX
      • Canal FX
      • Canal Fox Life
      • Canal Fox Reality
      • Canal Fox Sports
      • Canal Speed
      • Canal National Geographic Channel
      • Fox One-Stop Media - advertising sales for company owned and third party channels in Latin America
    • LAPTV (22.5%)(Latin American Pay Television) operates 5 cable movie channels throughout South America excluding Brazil.
      • Movie City
      • Cine Canal
      • Cine Canal 2
      • Cine Canal Classics
      • The Film Zone
    • Telecine (12.5%) operates 5 cable movie channels in Brazil.
      • Telecine Premium
      • Telecine Action
      • Telecine Emotion
      • Telecine Pipoca
      • Telecine Cult
  • Australia
    • Premier Media Group (50%)
      • Fox Sports One
      • Fox Sports Two
      • Fox Sports Three
      • Fuel
      • How To Channel
    • Premium Movie Partnership (20%) - movie channels, a joint venture between 20th Century Fox, Sony, Universal, Paramount and Liberty Media
      • Showtime 1 & 2
      • Showtime Greats

PLATFORMS

• India
  • Hathway Cable & Datacom (26%), India's 2nd largest cable network through 7 cities including Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai & Pune
• Taiwan
  • Total TV (20%), Pay TV platform with JV partner KOO's Group majority owner (80%). News Corp also has a 20% interest in the KOO's Group directly

[edit] Internet

• MySpace - Social networking website, general interest website acquired through purchase from Intermix Media
• Grab.com - Entertainment/Games. (Acquired through purchase of Intermix Media)
• IGN Entertainment - Internet entertainment portal (Includes the sites IGN, GameSpy, Rotten Tomatoes and Askmen.com)
• Strategic Data Corp - interactive advertising company which develops technology to deliver targeted internet advertising.
• Movielink (20%) - Online movie downloads joint Venture between - Fox, Viacom, Sony, MGM & Disney
• Indya.com - India's no. 1 Entertainment Portal
• What if Sports.com
• Scout.com
• Sibeliusmusic.com and other Sibelius Software related forms of media.
• Jumptheshark.com owned through stake in GemstarTVGuide
• ROO Group Inc (5% increasing to 10% with performance targets)
• News Digital Media
  • News.com.au - Australian-oriented news website
  • CareerOne.com.au
  • CarsGuide.com.au
  • in2mobi.com.au
  • TrueLocal.com.au
• Realestate.com.au (69%)
  • Casa.it (59.4%), Sky Italia also holds a 30.6% share
  • atHome group, operator of leading realestate websites in Luxembourg, France, Belgium and Germany.
    • Altowin (51%),provider of office management tools for realestate agents in Belgium.
  • Propertyfinder.com (50%), News Corp holds the remaining 50% directly
  • PropertyLook, property websites in Australia and New Zealand.
  • HomeSite.com.au, home renovation and improvement website.
• New Zealand
  • DVD Unlimited - leading online DVD subscription service (ownership through stake in Sky Network Television).

[edit] Other assets

• (NDS) - Conditional access technology and personal digital video recorders (PVRs) (74%)
  • VISIONIK (51%)
  • ADSR (40%)
  • Jungo
  • ITE, publisher of Playstation and Mobile games, and interactive television
• Broadsystem Ltd (UK) - Telephony provider for media companies, bought in 1991
• Broadsystem Australia (Australia)
• Broadsystem Ventures (UK) - provider of cheap-rate telephone calls, particularly for customers of Sky Television. Bought outright in 1999.
• Jamba! - Mobile Entertainment/Mobile Handsets Personalization/Games. 51% majority stake acquired through deal with VeriSign in September 2006.
• News Outdoor Group - Largest outdoor advertising company in Eastern Europe with over 70,000 ads including billboards and bus shelters, operating in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Israel, Poland, Romania, Russia (96 cities), Turkey & Ukraine.
  • Maximedia Israel (67%)
  • Mosgorreklama (50%) - Russia sign and marketing material manufacturer
  • Kamera Acikhava Reklamclik (?) - leading outdoor advertising company in Turkey
• Australian Associated Press (25%)
• Fox Sports Grill (50%) - Upscale sports bar and restaurant with 8 locations - Arizona, California, Seattle, New York, Dallas TX, Houston TX, Charlotte NC and Georgia.
• Fox Sports Skybox (70%) - Sports fan's Bar & Grill at Staples Centre and 6 airport restaurants.
• Sibelius Software and related forms of media.
• News America Marketing (US) - (100%) - nation’s leading marketing services company, products include a portfolio of in-store, home-delivered and online media under the SmartSource brand.

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,960821-2,00.html
2. ^ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,960821-3,00.html
3. ^ Rupert Murdoch faces authors' revolt (BBC) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/analysis/61122.stm
4. ^ Media ownership in the UK http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/media/mediaown.html
5. ^ "Murdoch's son sees pay doubled ahead of exit"
6. ^ http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5248387077652418022&q=alwaleed&hl=en

[edit] External links

• News Corporation official site
• Ketupa - News Corporation profile with history and holdings
• News Corp. Corporate Timeline - Columbia Journalism Review This Site has not been updated since 2004.
• Broadsystem - official site for News International subsidiary