Company name | News Corporation |
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Company logo | |
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Company type | Public |
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Traded as | |
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Foundation | Adelaide, Australia (1979) |
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Founder | Rupert Murdoch |
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Location | 1211 Avenue of the AmericasNew York City, New York 10036 U.S |
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Area served | Worldwide |
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Key people | Rupert Murdoch(Chairman & CEO)Chase Carey(President & COO) |
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Industry | Media conglomerate |
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Slogan | Creating and distributing top quality news, sports and entertainment around the world |
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Products | Films, Television, Cable Programming, Satellite Television, Magazines, Newspapers, Books, Sporting Events, Websites |
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Revenue | US$ 32.778 billion (2010) |
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Operating income | US$ 3.703 billion (2010) |
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Subsid | List of acquisitions |
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Homepage | www.newscorp.com |
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(Sixth Avenue), where News Corporation is based]]
News Corporation (, , , ), often abbreviated to News Corp., is the world's third-largest media conglomerate (behind The Walt Disney Company and Time Warner) as of 2008, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009. The company's Chairman & Chief Executive Officer is Rupert Murdoch.
News Corporation is a publicly traded company listed on the NASDAQ, with secondary listings on the Australian Securities Exchange. Formerly incorporated in South Australia, the company was re-incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law after a majority of shareholders approved the move on November 12, 2004. At present, News Corporation is headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Ave.), in New York City, in the newer 1960s-1970s corridor of the Rockefeller Center complex.
History
News Corp was created in 1979 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 afternoon tabloid,
The News. News Limited operates today as News Corporation's Australian brand, operating out of
Surry Hills, in Sydney.
Moving into the United States
News Ltd. 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 of 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. commercial broadcasting television 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.
Expansion and consolidation
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. A number of senior Australian media moguls were brought into Murdoch's powerhouse, including
John Dux, who was managing director of the
South China Morning 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. Murdoch declared that:
In 1995, the Fox network became the object of scrutiny from the 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. It was also noted that the stations themselves were owned by a separate company whose chief shareholder was U.S. citizen Murdoch, although nearly all of the stations' equity was controlled by News Corp. 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 to compete against Ted Turner's rival channel CNN.
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.
Also in 1999, The Economist reported that News Corps paid comparatively lower taxes and Newscorp Investments specifically had made £11.4 billion ($20.1 billion) in profits over the previous 11 years but had not paid net corporation tax. It also reported that after an examination of the available accounts, Newscorp could normally have been expected to pay corporate tax of approximately $350 million. The article explained that in practice the corporation's complex structure, international scope and use of offshore tax havens allowed News Corporation to pay minimal taxes.
Development since 2000
In late 2003, News Corp acquired a 34% stake in
DirecTV Group (formerly
Hughes Electronics), operator of the largest American satellite TV system, from
General Motors for US$6 billion.
DirecTV Group was sold to
Liberty Media in 2008 in exchange for its holding in News International.
In 2007 News Corporation reached an agreement to purchase Dow Jones, publishers of The Wall Street Journal, for an estimated $5.6 billion. On October 15, 2007 the corporation spun off a business news channel from Fox News—Fox Business Network. The channel's lawyers were "reviewing all of the fine details of the contract" between Dow Jones and CNBC, said Alexis Glick, Fox Business Network's vice president of business news and the channel's morning anchor. But, she added, "we will actively use" the other Dow Jones properties. "...this new channel is a bit tedious. Somehow, business is more interesting when treated in a business-like way", commented Rob Carrick in 16 October's Toronto Globe and Mail. On 8 February 2007, Murdoch promised guests at the McGraw-Hill Media Summit that, "a Fox channel would be more business-friendly than CNBC. That channel leap[s] on every scandal, or what they think is a scandal", he said.
In 2009, News Corp established NewsCore, a global wire service set up to provide news stories to all of News Corp's journalistic outlets.
In 2010 due to the Fijian government's requirement that the country's media outlet must be 90% owned by Fiji nationals, News Corporation sold 90% of their stake in their Fijian newspapers (Fiji Times, Nai Lalakai, and Shanti Dut) to Motibhai Group of Companies.
Shareholders
In August 2005 the Murdoch family owned only about 29% of the company. However, nearly all of these shares were voting shares, and Rupert Murdoch retained effective control of the company. Nonetheless,
John Malone of
Liberty Media had built up a large stake, with about half of the shares being voting shares. Therefore, in November 2006, News Corporation announced its intention to transfer its 38.5 per cent managing interest in
DirecTV Group to John Malone's Liberty Media; in return it bought back Liberty's 16.3% shares in News Corp., giving Murdoch tighter control of the latter firm. Murdoch sold 17.5 million class A shares in December 2007.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al-Saud of Saudi Arabia, through his Kingdom Holding Company, owns 7% of News Corp.'s shares, making Kingdom Holdings the second largest shareholder.
Years after when Elektra Records was absorbed in 2004, News Corporation owned half of the re-issues from the record label company.
Corporate governance
The company's Board of Directors consists of 17 individuals:
Rupert Murdoch (Chairman of the Board & Chief Executive Officer)
José María Aznar
Natalie Bancroft (Director)
Peter Barnes
Chase Carey (Deputy Chairman, President & Chief Operating Officer)
Kenneth E. Cowley
David F. DeVoe (Chief Financial Officer)
Viet Dinh
Rod Eddington
Mark Hurd
Andrew S. B. Knight (Chairman, J. Rothschild Capital Management Limited)
James Murdoch (Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Europe & Asia)
Lachlan Murdoch
Thomas J. Perkins
Arthur M. Siskind (Senior Adviser to the Chairman)
John L. Thornton
Stanley S. Shuman (Director Emeritus)
Office of the chairman
Rupert Murdoch (Chairman and CEO)
Chase Carey (President, Chief Operating Officer & Deputy Chairman)
David DeVoe (Chief Financial Officer)
James Murdoch (Deputy Chief Operating Officer; Chairman and CEO, International)
Roger Ailes (Chairman, Fox Television Stations Group)
Daniel Suárez García (Chairman and CEO, Latin America)
Holdings
Books
HarperCollins book publishing company
HarperCollins India (40%) joint venture with India Today Group
Zondervan Christian book publisher
*Inspirio - religious gift production.
Newspapers
Australia published by News Limited.
*The Australian (Nationwide)
*Community Media Group (16 QLD & NSW suburban/regional titles)
*Cumberland-Courier Newspapers (23 suburban/commuter titles)
*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)
*Herald Sun (Victoria)
*Sunday Herald Sun (Victoria)
*The Weekly Times (Victoria)
*Leader Newspapers (33 suburban Melbourne, VIC titles)
*MX (Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane CBD)
*The Geelong Advertiser (Geelong, Victoria)
*The Advertiser (South Australia)
*The Sunday Mail (South Australia)
*Messenger Newspapers (11 suburban Adelaide, SA titles)
*The Sunday Times (Western Australia)
*The Mercury (Tasmania)
*Quest Newspapers (19 suburban Brisbane, QLD titles)
*The Sunday Tasmanian (Tasmania)
*Northern Territory News (Northern Territory)
*The Sunday Territorian (Northern Territory)
*The Tablelands Advertiser (Atherton Tablelands and the Far North, Queensland)
Fiji
*Fiji Times (National) (10%)
* Nai Lalakai (10%)
* Shanti Dut (10%)
Papua New Guinea
*Papua New Guinea Post-Courier (National) (62.5%)
UK and Ireland newspapers, published by subsidiaries of News International Ltd.
*News Group Newspapers Ltd.
**The Sun (published in Ireland as The Irish Sun)
**News of the World
*Times Newspapers Ltd.
**The Sunday Times
**The Times
**The Times Literary Supplement
US newspapers and magazines
*The New York Post
** Community Newspaper Group
*** The Brooklyn Paper
*** Bronx Times-Reporter
*** Brooklyn Courier-Life
*** Queens Times Ledger
*Dow Jones & Company
**Consumer Media Group
***The Wall Street Journal
***Wall Street Journal Europe
***Wall Street Journal Asia
***Barron's - weekly financial markets magazine.
***Marketwatch - Financial news and information website.
***Far Eastern Economic Review
**Enterprise Media Group
***Dow Jones Newswires - global, real-time news and information provider.
***Factiva - provides business news and information together with content delivery tools and services.
***Dow Jones Indexes - stock market indexes and indicators, including the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
***Dow Jones Financial Information Services - produces databases, electronic media, newsletters, conferences, directories, and other information services on specialised markets and industry sectors.
***Betten Financial News - leading Dutch language financial and economic news service.
**Local Media Group
***Ottoway Community Newspapers - 8 daily and 15 weekly regional newspapers.
**STOXX (33%)- joint venture with Deutsche Boerse and SWG Group for the development and distribution of Dow Jones STOXX indices.
**Vedomosti (33%) - Russia's leading financial newspaper (joint venture with Financial Times and Independent Media).
**SmartMoney
*The Timesledger Newspapers of 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
*The Brooklyn Paper
*Caribbean Life
*Times-Herald Record (Middletown, New York)
Magazines
News America Marketing (Smartsource) (weekly Sunday newspaper coupon insert/website)
Australian
*Alpha Magazine
*Australian Country Style
*Australian Golf Digest
*Australian Good Taste
*Big League
*BCME
*Delicious
*Donna Hay
*Fast Fours
*GQ (Australia)
*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
InsideOut (UK Based Magazine)
Music and radio
Fox Film Music Group
MySpace Records
Russia
Nashe (50%)
Best FM (50%)
Sport
50% of the National Rugby League (Australia and New Zealand)
Majority ownership of the Brisbane Broncos (68.9%) and full ownership of the Melbourne Storm rugby league team.
Colorado Rockies (15%)
Studios
Fox Filmed Entertainment: 20th Century Fox's parent company
20th Century Fox: a film production/distribution company
*Fox Searchlight Pictures - specialized films.
*Fox 2000 Pictures - general audience feature films.
20th Century Fox Television - primetime television programming.
*20th Television - television distribution (syndication).
*Fox 21 - low scripted/budgeted television production company.
*Fox Television Studios (productions)- market specific programming e.g. COPS and network television company.
**Fox Television Studios International
**Fox World Productions
**Fox World Australia
**Fox TV Studios France
**Fox TV Studios India
*Natural History New Zealand - natural world documentaries, non-fiction programming.
Fox Faith - Promotion and distribution of Christian and related "family friendly" movies on DVD and some theatrical release.
Fox Studios Australia, Sydney, New South Wales
Blue Sky Studios - production of CGI films e.g. Ice Age.
Fox Entertainment Group
New Regency Productions (20%) - general audience feature films.
Regency Enterprises (20%) - parent company of New Regency Productions (50%).
BSkyB Studios London, England
FOX Star Studios New Delhi,India
TV
News Corp agreed to sell eight of its television stations to
Oak Hill Capital Partners for approximately $1.1 billion as of 22 December 2007. The stations are US
Fox affiliates.
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
Saeta TV Channel 10, channel of Uruguay
ITV plc (17.5%), a British broadcast television network and the UK's largest advertising revenue based broadcaster via BSkyB, although a recent legal decision will require this stake to be cut.
News Corp Europe
*bTV, a broadcast television network in Bulgaria. They sold this to CME in February 2010.
*B1 TV (12,5%), a broadcast television network in Romania, in partnership with Ismar International NVkkkk
*Fox Televizija, a broadcast television network in Serbia (49%). They sold this to Antenna Group in January 2010
*Fox Turkey, a Turkish terrestrial channel (56,5%) (formerly TGRT)
*Imedi Media Holding (100%), a Georgian radio and TV broadcaster.
**Imedi Television
**Radio Imedi
*Israel 10 (9%), a terrestrial channel in Israel.
*LNT (100%), a terrestrial channel in Latvia
*TV5 Riga (100%), a terrestrial channel in Latvia
*Cielo (100%), a free channel in Italy
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
Satellite television
SKY Digital, United Kingdom & Ireland (39.1% holding). In practice, a controlling interest.
SKY Network TV, New Zealand (44%)
SKY Italy, Italian satellite TV service
SKY Latin America, Latin American satellite TV service
SKY Germany (49.90%), Germany's largest pay TV provider
SKY Tata (20%), an Indian DTH HDTV service (in partnership with Tata Group)
FOX Television (25%), Australia, a joint venture with Telstra and Publishing and Broadcasting Limited
FOX Italy, Italian Broadcast and Production Company (with 2 HDTV)
STAR TV, an Asian satellite TV service having 300 million viewers in 53 countries (it acquired STAR Vijay and Asianet, (two prominent south Indian networks)
Phoenix Television (17.6%), satellite TV network with landing rights in Hong Kong, and select provinces on Mainland China.
Cable
Cable TV channels owned (in whole or part) and operated by News Corporation include:
Fox Business Network, a business news channel.
Fox Classics, a channel airing classic TV shows & movies
Fox Movie Channel, an all-movie channel that airs commercial-free movies from 20th Century Fox's film library
Fox News Channel, a 24-hour news & opinion channel
Fox Sports Net, a chain of US regional cable news television networks broadcasting local sporting events linked together by national sports news programming. Local channels include "Fox Sports Southwest", "Fox Sports Detroit", etc. (some affiliates are owned by Cablevision).
*SportSouth, a regional sports network in the United States, with its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, and affiliate of Fox Sports Net.
*Sun Sports a regional sports network in the United States, with its headquarters in Miami, Florida, and affiliate of Fox Sports Net.
Fox College Sports, a college sports network consisting of three regionally aligned channels, mostly with archived Fox Sports Net programs but also some live and original content.
Fox Sports International
*Fox Soccer Channel, a United States digital cable and satellite network specializing mainly in soccer.
*Fox Soccer Plus, a sister network to FSC, but including coverage of other sports, most notably rugby union. Launched in 2010 after News Corporation picked up many of the broadcast rights abandoned by Setanta Sports when it stopped broadcasting in the U.S.
*Fox Sports Middle East - English language sports network airing in Middle East countries including Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, 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 programs The Shield and Damages.
Speed Channel
FUEL TV
Big Ten Network, cable and satellite channel dedicated to The Big Ten Conference, launched Aug 2007 (49%)
National Geographic Channel (joint venture with National Geographic Magazine) 67%
National Geographic Channel International 75%
National Geographic Wild (joint venture with National Geographic Magazine)
Fox International Channels, domestic cable channels offering different formats of Fox programming in over thirty countries worldwide.
*Fox
*Fox Life
*Fox Life HD
*Fox Crime
*FX
*Fox Horror
*Fox Movies
*Fox Sports
*Speed Channel
*National Geographic Channel
*National Geographic Channel HD
*National Geographic Wild
*National Geographic Adventure
*National Geographic Music
*National Geographic Junior
*Cult
*
*Voyage
*Real Estate TV
*BabyTV
*Fox Toma 1 - Spanish language television production.
*Fox Telecolombia - Spanish language television production. (51%)
*Utarget.Fox - European and Latin American online ad company, plus now handles TV ad sales.
Middle & South America
*Fox Latin American Channels - channels available in over 17 countries in Latin America
**National Geographic Channel
**National Geographic Channel HD
**National Geographic Wild
**Nat Geo Music
**Universal Channel
**Universal HD
**Fox Channel
**Fox HD
**FX
**Fox Life
**Syfy
**Fox Sports
**Speed Channel
**Baby TV
**Utilisima
**Fox One-Stop Media - advertising sales for company owned and third party channels in Latin America
*LAPTV (60%) (Latin American Pay Television) operates 8 cable movie channels throughout South America excluding Brazil.
*Telecine(12.5%) operates 5 cable movie channels in Brazil.
Australia
*Premier Media Group (50%)
**Fox Sports One
**Fox Sports Two
**Fox Sports Three
**FoxSportsNews
**FUEL TV (Australia)
**How To Channel
**Speed Channel
*Premium Movie Partnership (20%) - movie channels, a joint venture between 20th Century Fox, Sony, NBC Universal, Viacom and Liberty Media
PLATFORMS
India
*Hathway Cable & Datacom (22.2%), 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
Internet
Fox Interactive Media
*Foxsports.com - website with sports news, scores, statistics, video and fantasy sports
*MySpace - Social networking website, general interest website acquired through purchase from Intermix Media
* MySpace TV, a video site which will host amateur videos, contents from net and studios that competes with Google's YouTube
*Hulu (27%) - online video streaming site in partnership with NBC Universal and The Walt Disney Company.
*Flektor - provides Web-based tools for photo and video editing and mashups.
*IGN Entertainment - Internet entertainment portal (Includes the sites IGN, GameSpy, TeamXbox, and Askmen.com)
*Giga.de
*Slingshot Labs - web development incubator (Includes the sites DailyFill).
*Strategic Data Corp - interactive advertising company which develops technology to deliver targeted internet advertising.
*Scout.com
*WhatIfSports.com - sports simulation and prediction website. Also provides fantasy-style sports games to play.
Indya.com - 'India's no. 1 Entertainment Portal'
ROO Group Inc (5% increasing to 10% with performance targets)
News Digital Media
*News.com.au - Australian-oriented news website
**News Lab
*CareerOne.com.au (50%) - recruitment advertisement website in partnership with Monster Worldwide.
*Carsguide.com.au
*in2mobi.com.au
*TrueLocal.com.au
*Moshtix.com.au – a ticket retailer
*Learning Seat
*Wego News owns minority stake in Wego.com
*Netus (75%) - investment co. in online properties.
REA Group (60.7%)
*Realestate.com.au
*Casa.it (69.4%), 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 International holds the remaining 50%
**Sherlock Publications, owner of hotproperty.co.uk portal and magazine titles 'Hot Property', 'Renting' and 'Overseas'
**ukpropertyshop.co.uk, most comprehensive UK estate agent directory.
*PropertyLook, property websites in Australia and New Zealand.
*HomeSite.com.au, home renovation and improvement website.
*Square Foot Limited, Hong Kong's largest English Language property magazine and website
**Primedia - Holding co. of Inside DB, a Hong Kong lifestyle magazine.
TadpoleNet Media (10%) Hosts of ArmySailor.com
New Zealand
*DVD Unlimited - leading online DVD subscription service (ownership through stake in Sky Network Television).
*Fox Networks - one of the largest international ad networks.
*Expedient InfoMedia blog network.
Other assets
NDS - Conditional access technology and personal digital video recorders (PVRs) (49%)
*Jungo
*Timothy Coville
*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 Personalisation/Games.
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 (45%) - real time news service.
Stats Inc (50%) - worlds leading provider of sporting information and statistical analysis (a JV with Associated Press)
Fox Sports Grill (50%) - Upscale sports bar and restaurant with 7 locations - Scottsdale, Arizona; Irvine, California; Seattle, Washington; Plano, Texas; Houston, Texas; San Diego, California; and Atlanta, Georgia.
Fox Sports Skybox (70%) - Sports fan's Bar & Grill at Staples Center and 6 airport restaurants.
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.
Rotana (9%) - Largest Arab entertainment company owned by Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal
The Daily - iPad only newspaper delivered daily.
Making Fun - social game developer for making games for social networking sites, smartphones, tablets and other devices.
Annual conference
News Corporation organises an annual management conference, discussing media issues related to
geopolitics. Attendees include News Corporation executives, senior journalists,
Politicians and
Celebrities. Previous events were in
Cancun, Mexico, and the
Hayman Island off the coast of Australia. The events are private and secretive, there are no records available for the agenda or talks given at the conferences, and no uninvited journalists are permitted access.
The 2006 event in Pebble Beach, California was led by Rupert Murdoch. According to a copy of the agenda leaked to the Los Angeles Times and other media accounts, issues discussed related from Europe to broadcasting and new media, terrorism to the national policy. The event included speeches from Rupert Murdoch, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bono, Al Gore, Senator John McCain and Bill Clinton while Israel's President, Shimon Peres, will appear on a panel named "Islam and the West". Other notable attendees include Newt Gingrich and Nicole Kidman.
Political donations
Republican Governors Association
In anticipation of the 2010 elections, News Corp. donated $1 million to the
Republican Governors Association in June 2010. The move was criticized by Democrats who said this was evidence of News Corp's media outlets conservative leanings. The
Democratic Governors Association criticized the donation, and demanded more transparency in the reporting by News Corp companies. DGA head Nathan Daschle wrote to the chairman of News Corp company
Fox News,
Roger Ailes: "In the interest of some fairness and balance, I request that you add a formal
disclaimer to your coverage any time any of your programs covers governors or gubernatorial races between now and election day."
United States Chamber of Commerce
In the summer of 2010, News Corp. donated $1 million to the
United States Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber aggressively supported the Republican effort to retake Congress in 2010. This donation and an earlier $1 million contribution that News Corp. made to the Republican Governor's Association led media critics to question whether the company had crossed an ethical line for a media company.
See also
List of assets owned by News Corporation
List of conglomerates
References
External links
Ketupa - News Corporation profile with history and holdings
News Corp. Holdings and Timeline - Columbia Journalism Review (This site has not been updated since 2004)
News Corporation collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Category:Companies established in 1979
Category:Companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange
Category:Media companies of the United States
Category:Multinational companies headquartered in the United States
Category:Rockefeller Center
Category:Ansett Australia