Hearst Communications
Hearst Communications, Inc., often referred to simply as Hearst, is an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan in New York City.[3]
Company type
March 4, 1887
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Hearst Tower
300 W. 57th Street
New York, NY 10019
U.S.
Worldwide
- William Randolph Hearst III
- (chairman)
- Frank A. Bennack Jr.
- (executive vice chairman)
- Steve Swartz
- (president and CEO)
US$11.9 billion (2022)
20,000 (2016)
- Hearst Television
- Hearst Magazines
- Hearst Ventures
- Hearst Business Media
- Hearst Entertainment & Syndication
- Hearst Newspapers
Hearst owns newspapers, magazines, television channels, and television stations, including the San Francisco Chronicle, the Houston Chronicle, Cosmopolitan and Esquire. It owns 50% of the A&E Networks cable network group and 20% of the sports cable network group ESPN, both in partnership with The Walt Disney Company.[4]
The conglomerate also owns several business-information companies, including Fitch Ratings and First Databank.[5]
The company was founded by William Randolph Hearst, a newspaper owner most well known for use of yellow journalism. The Hearst family remains involved in its ownership and management.[6]
History[edit]
Formative years[edit]
In 1880, George Hearst, mining entrepreneur and U.S. senator, bought the San Francisco Daily Examiner.[7] In 1887, he turned the Examiner 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.[8] Hearst began to purchase and launched other newspapers, including the New York Journal in 1895[9] and the Los Angeles Examiner in 1903.[7]
In 1903, Hearst created Motor magazine, the first title in his company's magazine division. He acquired Cosmopolitan in 1905, and Good Housekeeping in 1911.[10][11] The company entered the book publishing business in 1913 with the formation of Hearst's International Library.[12][13] Hearst began producing film features in the mid-1910s, creating one of the earliest animation studios: the International Film Service, turning characters from Hearst newspaper strips into film characters.[14]
Hearst bought the Atlanta Georgian in 1912,[15] the San Francisco Call and the San Francisco Post in 1913, the Boston Advertiser and the Washington Times (unrelated to the present-day paper) in 1917, and the Chicago Herald in 1918 (resulting in the Herald-Examiner).[16]
In 1919, Hearst's book publishing division was renamed Cosmopolitan Book.[12]