News Corporation
The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New York City. Prior to its split in 2013, it was the world's largest media company in terms of total assets and the world's fourth largest media group in terms of revenue, and News Corporation had become a media powerhouse since its inception, dominating the news, television, film, and print industries.[3][4][5][6][7]
This article is about the media company that existed from 1980 to 2013. For the companies split off in 2013, see 21st Century Fox and News Corp.Formerly
News Corporation Limited (1980–2004)
- 15 March 1980 in Adelaide, South Australia (as News Corp Limited)
- 12 December 2004 in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S. (as News Corporation)[1][2]
28 June 2013
Split into 21st Century Fox and the second incarnation of News Corporation
Worldwide
- Rupert Murdoch
(chairman and CEO) - Chase Carey
(president & COO)
Cable network programming, Filmed entertainment, Television, direct-broadcast satellite television, Publishing, and other
Murdoch family (39% voting power)
List of assets owned by:
newscorp.com at the Wayback Machine (archived June 24, 2013)
News Corporation was a publicly traded company listed on the Nasdaq. Formerly incorporated in Adelaide, South Australia, the company was re-incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law after a majority of shareholders approved the move on November 12, 2004. News Corporation was headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, in the newer 1960s–1970s corridor of the Rockefeller Center complex.
On June 28, 2012, after concerns from shareholders in response to its recent scandals and to "unlock even greater long-term shareholder value", founder Rupert Murdoch announced that News Corporation's assets would be split into two publicly traded companies,[8] one oriented towards media, and the other towards publishing. The formal split was completed on June 28, 2013; where the original News Corp. was renamed 21st Century Fox and consisted primarily of media outlets, while a new News Corporation was formed to take on the publishing and Australian broadcasting assets.
Its major holdings at the time of the split were News Limited (a group of newspaper publishers in Murdoch's native Australia), News International (a newspaper publisher in the United Kingdom, whose properties include The Times, The Sun, and the now-defunct News of the World (the subject of a phone hacking scandal that led to its closure in July 2011), Dow Jones & Company (an American publisher of financial news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal), the book publisher HarperCollins, and the Fox Entertainment Group (then owners of the 20th Century Fox film studio and the Fox television network).
Annual conference[edit]
News Corporation organized an annual management conference, discussing media issues related to geopolitics. Attendees included News Corporation executives, senior journalists, politicians and celebrities. Previous events were in Cancún, Mexico, and the Hayman Island off the coast of Australia. The events were private and secretive, there are no records available for the agenda or talks given at the conferences, and no uninvited journalists are permitted access.[91]
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,[92] issues discussed related from Europe to broadcasting and new media, terrorism to the national policy.[93] The event included speeches from Murdoch, Actor and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bono, Al Gore, Senator John McCain and Bill Clinton while Israel's President, Shimon Peres, appeared on a panel named "Islam and the West". Other notable attendees included Newt Gingrich and Nicole Kidman.
Political donations[edit]
In anticipation of US midterm elections, News Corporation donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association in June 2010. The move was criticized by Democrats, who said this was evidence of News Corporation's news outlets conservative leanings (see Fox News Channel controversies). The Democratic Governors Association also criticized the donation and demanded more transparency in the reporting by News Corporation companies. DGA head Nathan Daschle wrote to the chairman of News Corporation 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."[94]
Around the same time, News Corporation also donated $1 million to the United States Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber aggressively supported the Republican effort to retake Congress in 2010.[95] This donation and an earlier $1 million contribution that News Corporation made to the Republican Governor's Association led media critics to question whether the company had crossed an ethical line for a media company.[95]
The company's Board of Directors consisted of 17 individuals at the time of its break up: