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 is one of the largest diversified communications companies in the world. Its major interests include 15 daily and 49 weekly newspapers, including the
Houston 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 Television Inc. which reach a combined 18% of U.S. viewers; ownership in leading cable networks, including
Lifetime,
A&E Television Networks, and
ESPN; as well as business publishing, Internet businesses, television production, newspaper features distribution and real estate.
Trustees of William Randolph Hearst's Will
Under William Randolph Hearst's will, a common board of 13 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 18-member board of) the Hearst Corporation. The foundations shared ownership until tax law changed to prevent this. As of 2009, the trustees are:
- , 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
- Ronald J. Doerfler, chief financial officer, senior vice president and a board member of Hearst Corporation
- John Randolph Hearst Jr., an officer and director of the corporation
- Harvey L. Lipton, lawyer and former vice president and secretary of the Corporation
- Gilbert C. Maurer, former head of Hearst Magazines, then executive vice president and chief operating officer under Bennack, now a consultant
- Mark F. Miller, former executive vice president of Hearst Magazines
- , president and chief executive officer of Hearst Television, Inc.
- James M. Asher, chief legal and development officer of Hearst
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.
On August 27, 2009,
A&E Television Networks acquired
Lifetime Entertainment Services.
Assets
A non-exhaustive list of its properties and investments includes:
MagazinesNewspapers- Interests in an additional 43 daily and 72 non-daily newspapers owned by MediaNews Group, which include The Denver Post and Salt Lake Tribune
Weekly Newspapers- Ballston Spa Pennysaver (NY)
- Bulverde Community News (TX)
- Clifton Park North Pennysaver (NY)
- Clifton Park South Pennysaver (NY)
- Fairfield Citizen-News (CT)
- Fort Sam News Leader (TX)
- Glens Falls Moneysavers (NY)
- Lackland Talespinner (TX)
- Mid County Chronicle (TX)
- New Canaan news-Review (CT)
- New Milford Spectrum (CT)
- North San Antonio Times (TX)
- Norwalk Citizen-News (CT)
- Queensbury Moneysaver (NY)
- Vassar Pioneer Times (MI)
- West Texas Country Trader (TX)
Television and Cable (investments)- ESPN (owns 20%; shared with Disney, which owns the other 80%)
- Hearst Television Inc. (owner of 26 local television stations; also manages three local television and two local radio stations)
InternetOtherAntitrust 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 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. 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, 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, the parties announced on April 25, 2007 that a settlement had been reached.
