The Times Group

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message.
This article has been tagged since March 2007.

The Times Group is one of the largest media services conglomerates in India and currently dominates the newspaper and media business in the country. It is headed by Mr. Vineet Jain. It reaches out from:

11 publishing centers
15 printing centers
55 sales offices
Over 7000 employees
5 dailies including two of the largest in the country with approx 4.3 million copies circulated daily
2 lead magazines
29 niche magazines
Reaching 2468 cities and towns
Turnover in excess of USD 500 million

[edit] Businesses

Its major brands include:

The Times of India, India's (and the world's) largest English broadsheet daily
The Economic Times, India's largest financial daily, and the world's second largest after The Wall Street Journal
Navbharat Times, the largest Hindi Daily in Delhi and Bombay
Maharashtra Times, the largest Marathi Daily in Bombay
Femina, a women's magazine
Filmfare, a film magazine
JLT (Just Like That), a youth magazine.
Planet M, a music retailing brand
Times Music Music Publishing (including Hindi film, Pop Music & Devotional/Spiritual music)
Times Multimedia Multimedia Publishing Division
Times Television The Group's latest venture. Started recently with an entertainment and Lifestyle channel called Zoom.
Mumbai Mirror India's largest circulated compact newspaper, circulated free in the city of Mumbai.

Its subsidiary companies include:

Times Infotainment Media Limited & Entertainment Network India Limited that together control

Radio Mirchi National network of Private FM stations
360 Degrees Events
Times Outoors Outdoors

Times Internet Limited which has

Indiatimes portal
TimesofMoney Ltd[1] - a online payments portal specializing in remiting money to india

Times Global Broadcasting Limited

Times Now A News Channel

Times Business Solutions

Times Jobs
Simply Marry
Magic Bricks

[edit] A brief history of The Times

1838: The first edition appears on November 3, 1838, known as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce. The newspaper is published twice a week under editor J.E. Brennan. It is basically a city paper reflecting the interest of Bombay's business community.

1846: The newspaper changes hands and Dr. George Buist is appointed editor.

1850: Shareholder decide to increase the share capital and the paper is converted into a daily.

1861: Editor Robert Knight amalgamates The Bombay Times, Bombay Standard and Bombay Telegraph & Courier to form The Times of India and gives it a national character.

1880: The Times of India Weekly Edition is launched to meet the need for a weekend paper. This later came to be known as The Illustrated Weekly of India in 1923.

1890: Editor Henry Curwen buys The Times of India in partnership with Charles Kane.

1892: Following the death of Henry Curwen, T. J. Bennett becomes the editor and enters into a partnership with F.M. Coleman to form a joint stock company - Bennett, Colemen & Co. Ltd. (BCCL).

1907: In the newspaper's first price war under editor Stanley Reed, the price is cut from 4 annas to 1 anna, and circulation rises 5 times.

1946: For the first time, the paper transfers to Indian ownership. Ramakrishna Dalmia buys out Bennett, Coleman & Co.Ltd. for Rs. 2 crores.

1948: Sahu Jain Group become the owners of the company. Shanti Prasad Jain is the first chairman of the group.

1950: Delhi edition is launched with K. Gopalswami as the first Indian editor.

1952: Filmfare launched.

1959: Femina is launched.

1961: The Economic Times is launched.

1984: Samir Jain and Vineet Jain join BCCL.

1987: Printing of The Times of India from Kandivili Press.

1990: The Times School of Marketing is established as an inhouse training school to feed the group

1991: BBC features The Times of India among the world's six great newspapers.

1993: BCCL starts production of television software.

1996: The Times of India crosses 1 million mark in circulation.

1998: BCCL enters into music market with Times Music.

1999: Indiatimes webportal launched; BCCL enters music retailing business with Planet M.

2000: The Times of India crosses the 2 million mark in circulation.

2000: Timesofmoney - JV with Citibank.

2001: Radio Mirchi - Nationwide Private FM Broadcasting.

2001: 360 Degrees - Event Management Arm launched.

2002: Times Outdoor - Outdoor Advertising & Billboard Marketing.

2003: Times Classifieds - http://www.timesclassifieds.com/ Classifieds site catering to web audiences, the group publications and also publications from other countries like Sri Lanka.

2004: Launch of the Jobs portal Times Jobs http://www.timesjobs.com/ . Television Business launched with the launch of a lifestyle and entertainment channel called z00m.

2005: Launch of a Matrimonials website TimesMatri http://www.TimesMatri.com/

2006:

Launch of a television News Channel called Times Now http://www.timesnow.tv/ in collaboration with Reuters.
Radio Mirchi holding company ENIL (Entertainment Network India Limited) lists on the Indian stock markets. It is the first Times Group company to List on the bourses.
Launch of a Property services Portal Magic Bricks http://www.magicbricks.com/
TimesMatri is rebranded as Simply Marry
A new holding company by the name of Times Business Solutions is created. This company controls the brands TimesJobs SimplyMarry (earlier called TimesMatri) and MagicBricks
TimesofMoney launches Remit2Home, to cater to Global Remittance Market