Short answers, pulled from the story.
Hearst Communications was founded by William Randolph Hearst in 1887, when his father George Hearst, a mining entrepreneur and U.S. senator, turned over the San Francisco Daily Examiner to him. William Randolph Hearst was 23 years old at the time.
Hearst Communications owns 18 percent of ESPN Inc. The company originally acquired a 20 percent stake on the 30th of November, 1990, from RJR Nabisco for an estimated price between $165 million and $175 million. The ESPN investment is said to have accounted for at least 50 percent of total Hearst profits over the following 25 years.
Hearst Communications owns Cosmopolitan and Esquire, among other titles. In 2011, the company absorbed more than 100 additional magazine titles from the Lagardere Group for more than $700 million.
Hearst Communications is governed by a trust established under William Randolph Hearst's will, administered by a board of thirteen trustees fixed at five family members and eight outsiders. The trust owns the corporation and selects its 26-member board. In 2009, Hearst was estimated to be the largest private company managed by trustees in this way.
Following Adolf Hitler's rise to power, William Randolph Hearst personally instructed his reporters in Germany to give only positive coverage to Hitler and the Nazis. Journalists who refused were fired. High-ranking Nazis including Hermann Goring and Alfred Rosenberg were given space to write articles in Hearst newspapers.
Recent Hearst acquisitions include Bring a Trailer in June 2020, Puzzmo in December 2023, a majority of the Motor Trend Group in December 2024, and QGenda, a healthcare workforce management software provider, announced in August 2024. In July 2025, Hearst announced the purchase of the Dallas Morning News.