Hearst Corporation - History

History

George Hearst (1820–1891), American publisher and U.S. senator, entered the newspaper business in 1880, acquiring the San Francisco Daily Examiner. Seven years later, he turned the Examiner over to his son, 23-year-old William Randolph Hearst.

On March 4, 1887, William Randolph Hearst became editor and publisher of the San Francisco Examiner and transformed the sedate Examiner into "The Monarch of the Dailies." He acquired the most advanced printing equipment of his day, substantially revised the newspaper’s appearance and hired the best journalists he could find. He pushed his staff to write exciting news stories, and wrote editorials worded with force and conviction that enlivened the paper. Within a few years, the new Examiner was a success.

In 1895, Hearst purchased the New York Journal, laying the foundation for one of the major newspaper dynasties in American history. By the 1920s, Hearst, was the owner of a chain of newspapers from coast to coast. At one time, one in four Americans read a Hearst newspaper.

Hearst experimented with every aspect of newspaper publishing, from page layouts to editorial crusades. His newspapers introduced innovations such as multi-color presses, halftone photographs on newsprint, comic sections printed in color and wire syndication of news copy. Stories by Hearst correspondents from around the world were sold to other newspapers, giving rise to the Hearst International News Service, which later became part of United Press International.

Hearst Magazines was begun in 1903 with the publication of Motor magazine. Within the next 10 years, Hearst acquired several popular titles in 1905, starting with Cosmopolitan, and Good Housekeeping in 1911. In 1929, Hearst along with movie studio Metro Goldwyn Mayer created Hearst Metrotone to produce newsreels shown in movie theatres filled with news footage shot around the world.

In the 1920s, Hearst owned many newspapers, some of which he closed. Nevertheless, the reach of his media was great at the time.

Hearst began acquiring radio stations in the 1920s, and in 1948, he became the owner of one of the first television stations in the country, WBAL-TV in Baltimore.

William Hearst died in 1951, at age 88, and was succeeded by Richard E. Berlin as chief executive officer; Berlin had served as president of the company since 1943. Berlin retired in 1973, and Frank Massi, a longtime Hearst financial officer, served as president from 1973 to 1975, carrying out a financial reorganization followed by an expansion program in the late 1970s. John R. Miller, was Hearst president and chief executive officer from 1975 to 1979.

On November 8, 1990, Hearst Corporation acquired the remaining 20% stake of ESPN Inc. from RJR Nabisco for a price estimated between $165 million and $175 million. The other 80% is owned by The Walt Disney Company since 1996.

In December 2003, Marvel Entertainment acquired Cover Concepts from Hearst Communications, Inc.

On August 27, 2009, A+E Networks acquired Lifetime Entertainment Services.

In 2011, Hearst absorbed more than 100 magazine titles from the Lagardere group for more than $700 million and became a challenger of Time Inc ahead of Condé Nast.