Details

The company was formed as News Limited in 1922 to publish The News in Adelaide. A minority shareholding in the company was purchased in 1949 by Sir Keith Murdoch, the father of the present chief executive, Mr Rupert Murdoch.
An expansion program during the 1960s and 1970s included the acquisition of Mirror Newspapers and Cumberland Newspapers in 1960 and establishment of a national daily newspaper, The Australian, in 1964.
In 1969, the company acquired an interest in the United Kingdom based The News of the World, representing its first significant international acquisition.
In 1972, the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph were acquired from Australian Consolidated Press.
News America Publishing Inc. was established in the United States in 1973 as publisher of the New York Post, Village Voice, New York Magazine, The Boston Herald and Sunday Boston Herald.
In 1979, News Corporation Limited (News Corp) was formed and subsequently became the ultimate holding company of News Ltd. In 1980, News Corporation purchased United Telecasters Sydney, operator of Channel 10 Sydney, and acquired an interest in Channel ATV-10 Melbourne. Also, News International PLC, publisher of The News of The World and The Sun (UK), was acquired.
In the 1980s the company continued to expand into all forms of media (print, television, satellite etc) in Australia, Europe and the Americas with purchases of media companies such as Twentieth Century Fox.
In 1990 the company merged The Herald and Sun in Melbourne to form The Herald-Sun and The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mirror in Sydney to form The Daily Telegraph Mirror.
During 1994, the company formed a 50:50 joint venture with Telstra Corporation, called Foxtel, to provide cable pay TV and broadband services in Australia
The 1999/2000 fiscal year marked the expansion of News Corporation's involvement in the magazine business in Australia and the US. News Magazines, the company's Australian magazine division, was established in August 1999 and launched its first title, InsideOut, in May 2000. In the US, News Corporation formed a new group, News America Magazines, which published its first offering, Maximum Golf, in May 2000.
During 2000, News Corporation sold a 25% stake in its joint venture pay television service Foxtel, leaving the company with a holding of 25%.
At present the company has over 100 subsidiaries, throughout the world.

Related entries

Timeline

 1929 - 1988 Advertiser Newspapers Limited
        News Corporation Limited

Archival resources

News Corporation Ltd

• News Corporation Limited records, 1923 - 1985; News Corporation Ltd. Details

Published resources

Books

• Stone, Gerald, Compulsive viewing: the inside story of Packer's Nine Network, Viking O'Neil, Ringwood, Victoria, 2000, 536 pp. Details