 Logo used since 2016 | |
 Hearst Tower inMidtown Manhattan, September 2006 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Media |
| Founded | March 4, 1887; 138 years ago (1887-03-04) San Francisco,California, U.S. |
| Founder | William Randolph Hearst |
| Headquarters | Hearst Tower 300W. 57th Street New York,N.Y. 10019 U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people |
|
| Products | Books Magazines Newspapers Publications Television |
| Revenue |  US$11.9 billion (2022) |
| Owner | Hearst family |
Number of employees | 22,000 (2024) |
| Divisions |
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| Subsidiaries | |
| Website | hearst |
| Footnotes / references [1][2] | |
Hearst Corporation,Hearst Holdings Inc. andHearst Communications Inc.[3] comprise an American multinational mass media andbusiness informationconglomerate owned by theHearst family and based inHearst Tower inMidtown Manhattan in New York City.[4]
Hearst owns newspapers, magazines,television channels, andtelevision stations, including theSan Francisco Chronicle, theHouston Chronicle,Cosmopolitan andEsquire. It owns 50% of theA&E Networks cable network group and 20% ofthe Walt Disney Company’s sports divisionESPN Inc..[5]
The conglomerate also owns several business-information companies, includingFitch Group andFirst Databank.[6] The company was founded byWilliam Randolph Hearst, a newspaper owner most well known for use ofyellow journalism. The Hearst family remains involved in its ownership and management.[7]
In 1880,George Hearst, mining entrepreneur and U.S. senator, bought theSan Francisco Daily Examiner.[8] In 1887, he turned theExaminer over to his son,William Randolph Hearst, who that year founded the Hearst Corporation. The younger Hearst eventually built readership for Hearst-owned newspapers and magazines from 15,000 to over 20 million.[9] Hearst began to purchase and launched other newspapers, including theNew York Journal in 1895[10] and theLos Angeles Examiner in 1903.[8]
In 1903, Hearst createdMotor magazine, the first title in his company's magazine division. He acquiredCosmopolitan in 1905, andGood Housekeeping in 1911.[11][12] The company entered the book publishing business in 1913 with the formation of Hearst's International Library.[13][14] Hearst began producing film features in the mid-1910s, creating one of the earliestanimation studios: theInternational Film Service, turning characters from Hearst newspaper strips into film characters.[15]
Hearst bought theAtlanta Georgian in 1912,[16] theSan Francisco Call and theSan Francisco Post in 1913, theBoston Advertiser and theWashington Times (unrelated to the present-day paper) in 1917, and theChicago Herald in 1918 (resulting in theHerald-Examiner).[17]
In 1919, Hearst's book publishing division was renamed Cosmopolitan Book.[13]
In the 1920s and 1930s, Hearst owned the biggest media conglomerate in the world, which included a number of magazines and newspapers in major cities. Hearst also began acquiring radio stations to complement his papers.[18] Hearst saw financial challenges in the early 1920s, when he was using company funds to buildHearst Castle inSan Simeon and support movie production atCosmopolitan Productions. This eventually led to the merger of the magazineHearst International withCosmopolitan in 1925.[19]
Despite some financial troubles, Hearst began extending its reach in 1921, purchasing theDetroit Times,The Boston Record, and theSeattle Post-Intelligencer.[20] Hearst then added theLos Angeles Herald andWashington Herald, as well as theOakland Post-Enquirer, theSyracuse Telegram and theRochester Journal-American in 1922. He continued his buying spree into the mid-1920s, purchasing theBaltimore News (1923), theSan Antonio Light (1924), theAlbany Times Union (1924),[20] andThe Milwaukee Sentinel (1924). In 1924, Hearst entered the tabloid market inNew York City withNew York Daily Mirror, meant to compete with theNew York Daily News.[21]
In addition to print and radio, Hearst establishedCosmopolitan Pictures in the early 1920s, distributing his films under the newly createdMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer.[22] In 1929, Hearst andMGM created the Hearst Metrotone newsreels.[23]
TheGreat Depression hurt Hearst and his publications. Cosmopolitan Book was sold toFarrar & Rinehart in 1931.[13] After two years of leasing them to Eleanor "Cissy" Patterson (of the McCormick-Patterson family that owned theChicago Tribune), Hearst sold herThe Washington Times andHerald in 1939; she merged them to form theWashington Times-Herald. That year he also bought theMilwaukee Sentinel from Paul Block (who bought it from the Pfisters in 1929), absorbing his afternoonWisconsin News into the morning publication. Also in 1939, he sold theAtlanta Georgian to Cox Newspapers, which merged it with theAtlanta Journal.
FollowingAdolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany, the Nazis received positive press coverage by Hearst presses and paid ten times the standard subscription rate for the INS wire service belonging to Hearst.[24] William Randolph Hearst personally instructed his reporters in Germany to only give positive coverage to Hitler and the Nazis, and fired journalists who refused to write stories favourable of German fascism.[24] During this time, high ranking Nazis were given space to write articles in Hearst press newspapers, includingHermann Göring andAlfred Rosenberg.[24]
Hearst, with his chain now owned by his creditors after a 1937 liquidation,[25] also had to merge some of his morning papers into his afternoon papers. In Chicago, he combined the morningHerald-Examiner and the afternoonAmerican into theHerald-American in 1939. This followed the 1937 combination of the New YorkEvening Journal and the morningAmerican into theNew York Journal-American, the sale of theOmaha Daily Bee to theWorld-Herald.
Afternoon papers were a profitable business in pre-television days, often outselling their morning counterparts featuring stock market information in early editions, while later editions were heavy on sporting news with results of baseball games and horse races. Afternoon papers also benefited from continuous reports from the battlefront duringWorld War II. After the war, however, both television news and suburbs experienced explosive growth; thus, evening papers were more affected than those published in the morning, whose circulation remained stable while their afternoon counterparts' sales plummeted.
In 1947, Hearst produced an early television newscast for theDuMont Television Network:I.N.S. Telenews, and in 1948 he became the owner of one of the first television stations in the country,WBAL-TV inBaltimore.
The earnings of Hearst's three morning papers, theSan Francisco Examiner, theLos Angeles Examiner, andThe Milwaukee Sentinel, supported the company's money-losing afternoon publications such as theLos Angeles Herald-Express, theNew York Journal-American, and theChicago American. The company sold the latter paper in 1956 to theChicago Tribune's o wners, who changed it to the tabloid-sizeChicago Today in 1969 and ceased publication in 1974. In 1960, Hearst also sold thePittsburgh Sun-Telegraph to thePittsburgh Post-Gazette and theDetroit Times toThe Detroit News. After a lengthy strike it sold theMilwaukee Sentinel to the afternoonMilwaukee Journal in 1962. The same year Hearst's Los Angeles papers – the morningExaminer and the afternoonHerald-Express – merged to become the eveningLos Angeles Herald-Examiner. The1962–63 New York City newspaper strike left the city with no papers for over three months, with theJournal-American one of the earliest strike targets of the Typographical Union. TheBoston Record and theEvening American merged in 1961 as theRecord-American and in 1964, theBaltimore News-Post became theBaltimore News-American.
In 1953, Hearst Magazines boughtSports Afield magazine, which it published until 1999 when it sold the journal toRobert E. Petersen. In 1958, Hearst's International News Service merged with E.W. Scripps'United Press, formingUnited Press International as a response to the growth of theAssociated Press andReuters. The following year Scripps-Howard'sSan Francisco News merged with Hearst's afternoonSan Francisco Call-Bulletin. Also in 1959, Hearst acquired the paperback book publisherAvon Books.[26]
In 1965, the Hearst Corporation began pursuingjoint operating agreements (JOAs). It reached the first agreement with the DeYoung family, proprietors of the afternoonSan Francisco Chronicle, which began to produce a joint Sunday edition with theExaminer. In turn, theExaminer became an evening publication, absorbing theNews-Call-Bulletin. The following year, theJournal-American reached another JOA with another two landmark New York City papers: theNew York Herald Tribune andScripps-Howard'sWorld-Telegram and Sun to form theNew York World Journal Tribune (recalling the names of the city's mid-market dailies), which collapsed after only a few months.
The 1962 merger of theHerald-Express andExaminer in Los Angeles led to the termination of many journalists who began to stage a 10-year strike in 1967. The effects of the strike accelerated the pace of the company's demise, with theHerald Examiner ceasing publication November 2, 1989.[27]
Hearst moved into hardcover publishing by acquiringArbor House in 1978 andWilliam Morrow and Company in 1981.[28][29]
In 1982, the company sold theBoston Herald American — the result of the 1972 merger of Hearst'sRecord-American & Advertiser with theHerald-Traveler — toRupert Murdoch'sNews Corporation,[30] which renamed the paper asThe Boston Herald,[31] competing to this day withThe Boston Globe.
In 1986, Hearst bought theHouston Chronicle and that same year closed the 213-year-oldBaltimore News-American after a failed attempt to reach a JOA withA.S. Abell Company, the family who publishedThe Baltimore Sun since its founding in 1837. Abell sold the paper several days later to theTimes-Mirror syndicate of the Chandlers'Los Angeles Times, also competitor to theLos Angeles Herald-Examiner, which folded in 1989. In 1990, both King Features Entertainment and King Phoenix Entertainment were rebranded under the collective Hearst Entertainment umbrella. King Features Entertainment was renamed to Hearst Entertainment Distribution, while King Phoenix Entertainment was renamed to Hearst Entertainment Productions.[32]
In 1993, Hearst closed theSan Antonio Light after it purchased the rivalSan Antonio Express-News from Murdoch.[33]
On November 8, 1990, Hearst Corporation acquired 20% stake ofESPN, Inc. fromRJR Nabisco (now a subsidiary ofMondelez International) for a price estimated between $165 million and $175 million.[34] The other 80% has been owned byThe Walt Disney Company since 1996. Over the last 25 years, the ESPN investment is said to have accounted for at least 50% of total Hearst Corp profits and is worth at least $13 billion.[35]
On July 31, 1996, Hearst and theCisneros Group of Companies of Venezuela announced its plans to launchLocomotion, a Latin American animation cable television channel.[36][37][38]
On March 27, 1997, Hearst Broadcasting announced that it would merge with Argyle Television Holdings II for $525 million, the merger was completed in August to formHearst-Argyle Television (later renamed as Hearst Television in 2009).[39]
In 1999, Hearst sold its Avon and Morrow book publishing activities toHarperCollins.[40]
In 2000, the Hearst Corp. sold its flagship and "Monarch of the Dailies", the afternoonSan Francisco Examiner, and acquiring the long-time competing, but now larger morning paper,San Francisco Chronicle from theCharles de Young family. TheSan Francisco Examiner is now published as a daily freesheet.
In December 2003,Marvel Entertainment acquiredCover Concepts from Hearst, to extend Marvel's demographic reach among public school children.[41]
In 2009,A&E Networks acquiredLifetime Entertainment Services, with Hearst ownership increasing to 42%.[42][43]
In 2010, Hearst acquireddigital marketing agency iCrossing.[44]
In 2011, Hearst absorbed more than 100 magazine titles from theLagardère Group for more than $700 million and became a challenger ofTime Inc ahead ofCondé Nast. In December 2012, Hearst Corporation partnered again withNBCUniversal to launchEsquire Network.
On February 20, 2014, Hearst Magazines International appointed Gary Ellis to the new position, Chief Digital Officer.[45] That December,DreamWorks Animation sold a 25% stake inAwesomenessTV for $81.25 million to Hearst.[46]
In January 2017, Hearst announced that it had acquired a majority stake inLitton Entertainment. Its CEO, Dave Morgan, was a former employee of Hearst.[47][48]
On January 23, 2017, Hearst announced that it had acquired the business operations of The Pioneer Group from fourth-generation family owners Jack and John Batdorff. The Pioneer Group was a Michigan-based communications network that circulates print and digital news to local communities across the state. In addition to daily newspapers,The Pioneer andManistee News Advocate, Pioneer published three weekly papers and four local shopper publications, and operated adigital marketing services business.[49] The acquisition brought Hearst Newspapers to publishing 19 daily and 61 weekly papers.
Other 2017 acquisitions include theNew Haven Register and associated papers fromDigital First Media,[50][51] and theAlton, Illinois,Telegraph andJacksonville, Illinois,Journal-Courier fromCivitas Media.[52][53]
In October 2017, Hearst announced it would acquire the magazine and book businesses ofRodale inEmmaus, Pennsylvania with some sources reporting the purchase price as about $225 million. The transaction was expected to close in January following government approvals.[54][55]
In 2018, Hearst acquired the global health and wellness magazine brands owned byRodale, Inc.[56]
In April 2023, Hearst boughtWBBH-TV, an NBC-affiliated television station in Fort Myers, Florida, from Waterman Broadcasting Corporation.[57] In June 2023, Hearst acquired theJournal Inquirer[58] and later in October 2023 boughtSan Antonio Magazine. The company paid $150,000 in cash plus an amount equal to 90% of the magazine's accounts receivable[59]
In November 2023, Hearst acquired all print and digital operations owned by RJ Media Group, including theRecord-Journal, seven weekly newspapers and a digital advertising agency.[60] In December 2023, Hearst bought Puzzmo, a puzzle games website.[61]
In April 2024, Hearst acquired the Texas magazinesAustin Monthly andAustin Home from Open Sky Media. A new organization called was created Hearst Texas Austin Media to manage the titles along with theAustin Daily newsletter which was created early that year.[62] Hearst bought a majority of theMotor Trend Group, includingMotor Trend and itsTV network counterpart,Hot Rod, Roadkill, and Automobile, in December 2024.
A non-exhaustive list of its current properties and investments includes:
(alphabetical by state, then title)
Under William Randolph Hearst's will, a common board of thirteen trustees (its composition fixed at five family members and eight outsiders) administers the Hearst Foundation, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, and the trust that owns (and selects the 26-member[84] board of) the Hearst Corporation (parent of Hearst Communications which shares the same officers). The foundations shared ownership untiltax law changed to prevent this.[85][86]
In 2009, it was estimated to be the largest private company managed by trustees in this way.[87] As of 2017, the trustees are:[88]
The trust dissolves when all family members alive at the time of Hearst's death in August 1951 have died.
In addition to the Chronicle, SFGATE also published content from KRON-TV and the San Francisco Examiner up until the early 2000s, when Hearst Corp. acquired The Chronicle and SFGATE, divested the Examiner and ended the association with KRON-TV, which was sold separately.
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