News Corp (2013–present)


The current incarnation of News Corporation, stylized as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company focusing on newspapers and publishing, formed in 2013 as a spin-off of the original News Corporation. The company is headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware.
It is one of two companies which succeeded the former News Corporation, alongside 21st Century Fox—which consisted of the old News Corporation's broadcasting and media properties, such as Fox Entertainment Group. The spin-out was structured so that 21st Century Fox would be the legal successor and continuation of the old News Corporation, with the new News Corp being an entirely new company formed by a stock split. Following the acquisition of most of 21st Century Fox assets by The Walt Disney Company on March 20, 2019, Fox Corporation, which is the News Corp's sister company and the successor of former 21st Century Fox that focused on American broadcasting, news and sports businesses, is also owned and controlled by the Murdoch family.
Its notable assets include Dow Jones & Company, News UK, News Corp Australia, Realtor.com as well as book publisher HarperCollins.

History

Formation

On June 28, 2012, Rupert Murdoch announced that News Corporation's publishing operations would be spun off to form a new, publicly traded company. Murdoch stated that performing this split would "unlock the true value of both companies and their distinct assets, enabling investors to benefit from the separate strategic opportunities resulting from more focused management of each division". The move also came in the wake of a series of scandals that had damaged the reputation of multiple News Corporation-owned properties. Robert James Thomson, editor of The Wall Street Journal, was announced as the initial chief operating officer for the company; while Murdoch would not serve as CEO, he remained chairman and a shareholder of the new News Corp. Thomson promised that the new company would "cultivate a start-up sensibility even though we already work for the world's most established and prestigious diversified media and information services company", and would emphasize building new business models around its properties and content. The logo of the new News Corporation was unveiled at an investor presentation on May 28, 2013; the handwritten logo uses script based on Murdoch's own handwriting.
News Corp's board approved the split on May 24, 2013, while shareholders approved the split on June 11; Preliminary trading on the Australian Securities Exchange of the new News Corp's class B stock began on June 19, 2013, at around $15 per share; a value slightly lower than expected by some analysts. The shares fell in price by 3% to $14.55 per share, valuing the new company at around $7.9 billion US. The corporate split was finalized on June 28, 2013; during the stock splitting process, one share of the new News Corp was given to shareholders for every four shares they owned in the former News Corp. The current News Corp began trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol "NWS" on July 1, 2013; at the same time, the former News Corporation was renamed 21st Century Fox.

After the split

On September 4, 2013, News Corp announced that it would sell the Dow Jones Local Media Group, a group of 33 local newspapers, to Newcastle Investment Corp.—an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group, for $87 million. The newspapers will be operated by GateHouse Media, a newspaper group owned by Fortress. Robert Thomson indicated that the newspapers "were not strategically consistent with the emerging portfolio" of the company. GateHouse then filed for prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 27, 2013, to restructure its debt obligations to accommodate the acquisition. then GateHouse emerged from bankruptcy on November 26, 2013.
On December 20, 2013, News Corp announced its acquisition of Mark Little's Storyful, a news agency specializing in verifying and distributing user-generated content relating to news events from social networking services, for $25 million, marking News Corp's first acquisition since the split. Robert Thomson stated that the service had "become the village square for valuable video, using journalistic sensibility, integrity and creativity to find, authenticate and commercialise user-generated content", and that with the purchase, News Corp would "define the opportunities that the digital landscape presents, rather than simply adapt to them".
On May 2, 2014, News Corp acquired romance novel publisher Harlequin Enterprises from Torstar for $415 million. The deal closed on August 1; it is now operated as a subsidiary of News Corp's HarperCollins. On September 30, 2014, News Corp announced its acquisition of Move, Inc., a real estate listings company and owner of Realtor.com. A 20% stake is owned by REA Group, a publicly traded subsidiary of News Corp Australia.
News Corp also began making multiple investments in India, such as a $30 million investment in real estate site ProTiger in November 2014, the December 2014 purchase of BigDecisions.com, a financial planning website, and the acquisition of Indian media firm VCCircle in March 2015.
In October 2015, News Corp sold its digital education brand Amplify to a management team supported by a group of private investors for an undisclosed sum. In June 2016, News Corp acquired Wireless Group, a British radio broadcaster, for $296 million
In January 2020, News Corp sold Unruly, an outstream video ad marketplace, in exchange of 6.91% of Tremor Video stock.

Assets

The company consists primarily of the former News Corp's newspaper and book publishing assets, and includes: