Hearst Corporation

Hearst Communications, Inc. is a privately-held American-based media conglomerate based in the Hearst Tower in New York City, USA. Founded by William Randolph Hearst as an owner of newspapers, the company's holdings now include a wide variety of media. The Hearst family is involved in the ownership and management of the company.

Hearst Corporation is one of the largest diversified communications companies in the world. Its major interests include 16 daily and 49 weekly newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle and Albany Times Union; as well as interests in an additional 43 daily and 72 non-daily newspapers owned by MediaNews Group, which include the Denver Post and Salt Lake Tribune; nearly 200 magazines around the world, including Cosmopolitan and O, The Oprah Magazine; 28 television stations through Hearst-Argyle Television which reach a combined 18% of U.S. viewers; ownership in leading cable networks, including Lifetime Television, A&E Television Networks, The History Channel and ESPN; as well as business publishing, Internet businesses, television production, newspaper features distribution and real estate.

Trustees of William Randolph Hearst's Will (2003)

Under William Randolph Hearst's will, a common board of 13 trustees--five family members and eight outsiders--administers the Hearst Foundation, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, and the trust that owns (and selects the 18-member board of) the Hearst Corporation. The foundations shared ownership until tax law changed to prevent this. The present trustees are:
* [http://hearst.com/biographies/corp_bio_bennack.html Frank A. Bennack Jr.] , vice chairman and chief executive of the Corporation
*Anissa Bouadjakdji Balson, granddaughter of David Whitmire Hearst Sr.
*John G. Conomikes, vice president of Corporation, oversees broadcast interests
*Richard E. Deems, former head of Hearst Magazines, now a consultant
*Victor F. Ganzi, former president and chief executive officer of the Corporation
*George Randolph Hearst Jr., chairman of Hearst Corporation and president of the Hearst Foundation
*John Randolph Hearst Jr., an officer and director of the corporation
*Virginia Hearst Randt, daughter of late former chairman Randolph Apperson Hearst
*William Randolph Hearst III, president of the William Randolph Hearst Foundation
*Harvey L. Lipton, lawyer and former vice president and Secretary of the Corporation
*Gilbert C. Maurer, succeeded Deems as head of Hearst Magazines, then preceded Ganzi as executive vice president and chief operating officer under Bennack, now a consultant
*Mark F. Miller, former executive vice president of Hearst Magazines
* [http://hearst.com/biographies/corp_bio_barrett.html David J. Barrett] , president and chief executive officer of Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.The trust dissolves when all family members alive at the time of Hearst's death in August 1951 have died. Actuarial tables have put this date at 2042 or 2043.David Nasaw, "The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst" (Mariner Books, 2001).]

History

In December 2003, Marvel Entertainment acquired Cover Concepts from Hearst Communications, Inc. [cite web |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2003_Dec_18/ai_111376112 |title=Marvel Acquires Cover Concepts to Extend Demographic Reach; Acquisition Extends Reach of Marvel's Publishing Operations to 30 Million Public School Children |accessdate=2008-05-14 |format=html |work=BNet ]

Assets

A non-exhaustive list of its properties and investments includes:

Magazines
*"CosmoGIRL!"
*"Cosmopolitan"
*"Country Living"
*"Esquire"
*"Good Housekeeping"
*"Harper's Bazaar"
*"House Beautiful"
*"Marie Claire"
*"O at Home"
*"O, The Oprah Magazine"
*Popular Mechanics
*"Redbook"
*"Seventeen"
*"SmartMoney" (with Dow Jones)
*"Teen"
*"Town & Country"
*"Veranda"
*"Nat Mags"

Newspapers
*"Albany Times Union"
*"Beaumont Enterprise"
*"Connecticut Post"
*"Edwardsville Intelligencer"
*"Greenwich Time"
*"Houston Chronicle"
*"Huron Daily Tribune"
*"Laredo Morning Times"
*"Midland Daily News" (Michigan)
*"Midland Reporter-Telegram" (Texas)
*"The News-Times"
*"The Advocate (Stamford)"
*"Plainview Daily Herald"
*"San Antonio Express-News"
*"San Francisco Chronicle"
*"Seattle Post-Intelligencer"
*Interests in an additional 43 daily and 72 non-daily newspapers owned by MediaNews Group, which include the Denver Post and Salt Lake Tribune [http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/918944/000095013408002793/d53907e10vq.htm MediaNews 10-Q]

Weekly Newspapers
*210SA (TX)
*Advertiser North (NY)
*Advertiser South (NY)
*Ballston Journal (NY)
*Ballston Spa Pennysaver (NY)
*Beaumont Journal (TX)
*Bulverde Community News (TX)
*Business Express (TX)
*Cancha (TX)
*Canyon News (TX)
*Clifton Park North Pennysaver (NY)
*Clifton Park South Pennysaver (NY)
*Conexion (TX)
*Darien News-Review (CT)
*Fairfield Citizen-News (CT)
*Fort Sam News Leader (TX)
*Fronteras (TX)
*Glens Falls Moneysavers (NY)
*Greenwich Citizen (CT)
*Hardin County News (TX)
*Hill Country View (TX)
*Jasper NewsBoy (TX)
*Kelly USA Observer (TX)
*La Vibra (TX)
*La Voz (TX)
*Lackland Talespinner (TX)
*Latham Pennysaver (NY)
*Marlette Leader (MI)
*Medical Patriot (TX)
*Mid County Chronicle (TX)
*Muleshoe Journal (TX)
*Neighborhood News (TX)
*New Canaan news-Review (CT)
*New Milford Spectrum (CT)
*North Central News (TX)
*North San Antonio Times (TX)
*Northwest Weekly (TX)
*Norwalk Citizen-News (CT)
*Orange County News (TX)
*Pennysaver News (NY)
*Queensbury Moneysaver (NY)
*Randolph Wingspread (TX)
*Southside Reporter (TX)
*Spa City Moneysaver (NY)
*The Herald (TX)
*The Weekly (NY)
*Vassar Pioneer Times (MI)
*West Texas Country Trader (TX)
*Wesport News (CT)

Television and Cable (investments)
* A&E Television Networks (Shared with Disney and NBC Universal)
* ESPN (owns 20%; shared with Disney, which owns the other 80%)
* Hearst-Argyle Television (owner of 26 local television stations; also manages three local television and two local radio stations)
* Lifetime Entertainment Services (joint venture with The Walt Disney Company)
* New England Cable News (owns 50%; shared with the Comcast Corporation)Internet
* UGO
* 40% of Kaango, LLC [http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/918944/000095013408002793/d53907e10vq.htm MediaNews 10-Q]
* Answerology
* Kaboodle
* eCrush
* Real Age

Other
* King Features Syndicate

Antitrust allegations

On July 14, 2006, San Francisco businessman and real estate investor Clint Reilly filed a lawsuit against Hearst Corp. (owner of the "San Francisco Chronicle") and MediaNews Group (owner of the "San Jose Mercury News", "Contra Costa Times", "Marin Independent Journal", "Oakland Tribune" and all other paid-circulation dailies in the Bay Area), alleging that the two companies have been conspiring to control advertising rates, a violation of antitrust laws.

In November 2006, Reilly's attorney presented to U.S. District Judge Susan Illston a letter from Hearst senior vice president James Asher to MediaNews President Jody Lodovic that said the two companies agreed to "offer national advertising and internet advertising sales for their San Francisco Bay area newspapers on a joint basis, and to consolidate the San Francisco Bay Area distribution networks of such newspapers ..." Illston, suggesting she had been misled by the companies when they said they had not been collaborating, issued a 14-page ruling [U.S. District Court [http://cbs5.com/business/local_file_332174530~] Order Re: Second Application for Temporary Restraining Order, November 28 2006] forbidding Hearst and MediaNews from working together on national advertising sales or distribution.

On December 21, 2006, the San Francisco Bay Guardian and nonprofit Media Alliance filed suit to make the details of Reilly's lawsuit -- and MediaNews and the Chronicle's response -- public. [Williamson, Kate. [http://www.examiner.com/a-470754~Weekly__nonprofit_sue_to_open_records.html San Francisco Examiner "Weekly, nonprofit sue to open records," December 22 2006] ] As a result of the filing, many documents in the case were voluntarily disclosed by the defendants. The judge allowed redacted versions of two more documents to be released. She kept 17 others under seal. One of the documents unsealed was the deposition of Hearst's Asher, who says that as of September 2006, his company had recorded cumulative losses of $330 million on its investment in the Chronicle, [Said, Carolyn. [http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/01/BUGF7NT32227.DTL San Francisco Chronicle, February 1 2007] . "Hearst, MediaNews talks included possible sale of Chronicle"] which it acquired in mid-2000. He said Hearst proposed selling the Chronicle to MediaNews, but MediaNews didn't offer enough money. Asher also said Hearst and MediaNews have discussed working together for years. Although the trial was scheduled to start Monday, April 30 2007 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, [ [http://www.examiner.com/a-556253~MediaNews__Hearst_trial_set_to_proceed.html San Francisco Examiner "MediaNews, Hearst trial set to proceed," February 9 2007] .] the parties announced on April 25 2007 that a settlement had been reached. [cite news |first=Bob |last=Egelko |title=Hearst, MediaNews Group settle Reilly suit |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/25/BUG01PF68G7.DTL |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=2007-04-25 |accessdate = 2007-05-30]

References

External links

* [http://www.hearst.com/ Hearst Corporation home page]
* [http://hearstfdn.org/ The Hearst Foundation, Inc.]
* [http://www.hearstmags.com/ Hearst Magazines Subscription Center]
* [http://www.hearstnewsnetwork.com/ Links to Hearst Print and Broadcast]