News Corporation history, profile and history video
News Corporation is a diversified global media company. The Company operates in six segments: Cable Network Programming; Filmed Entertainment; Television; Direct Broadcast Satellite Television; Publishing, and Other. Cable Network Programming produces and licenses news, business news, sports, general entertainment and movie programming for distribution through cable television systems and direct broadcast satellite operators. Filmed Entertainment engages in the production and acquisition of live-action and animated motion pictures for distribution and licensing in all formats in all entertainment media worldwide. Television is engaged in the operation of broadcast television stations and the broadcasting of network programming . It engages in the direct broadcast satellite business through its subsidiary, SKY Italia. In November 2012, News Corporation, through a wholly owned subsidiary, completed acquisition of ESPN’s partnership interest in ESPN STAR Sports.”
“News Corp 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. 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. > 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 a chairman and a shareholder of the new News Corp. 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. 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.
News Corp’s board approved the split on May 24, 2013, while shareholders approved the split on June 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.The corporate split was officially 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. The new News Corp formally began trading on the NASDAQ under the symbol “NWS” on July 1, 2013; at the same time, the former News Corporation (now consisting purely of media properties, such as Fox Entertainment Group and20th Century Fox) was renamed 21st Century Fox.
Newspaper sales, Storyful acquisition
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.
On December 20, 2013, News Corp announced its acquisition of Mark Little’s Storyful, a news agency specializing in verifying and distributing user-generated content relating to news events from social networking services, for $25 million, marking News Corp’s first acquisition since the split. Robert Thomson stated that the service had “become the village square for valuable video, using journalistic sensibility, integrity and creativity to find, authenticate and commercialise user-generated content”, and that with the purchase, News Corp would “define the opportunities that the digital landscape presents, rather than simply adapt to them.”
On May 2, 2014, News Corp acquired romance novel publisher Harlequin Enterprises from Torstar for $415 million.”
*Information from Forbes.com and Wikipedia.org
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