Hearst Communications

• 1. Founding And Early Expansion

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  In 1880, George Hearst bought the San Francisco Daily Examiner for a mining entrepreneur and U.S. senator. He turned that paper over to his son William Randolph Hearst in 1887. The younger Hearst was just twenty-three years old when he became editor and publisher of the Examiner. He built readership from fifteen thousand copies to over twenty million within decades. Hearst began purchasing other newspapers including the New York Journal in 1895. He added the Los Angeles Examiner in 1903. In 1903, Hearst created Motor magazine as the first title in his company's magazine division. He acquired Cosmopolitan in 1905 and Good Housekeeping in 1911. The company entered book publishing in 1913 with the formation of Hearst's International Library. Hearst began producing film features in the mid-1910s creating one of the earliest animation studios called the International Film Service. This studio turned characters from Hearst newspaper strips into film characters. Hearst bought the Atlanta Georgian in 1912 and the San Francisco Call and the San Francisco Post in 1913. He purchased the Boston Advertiser and the Washington Times in 1917. The Chicago Herald arrived in 1918 resulting in the Herald-Examiner. In 1919, Hearst's book publishing division was renamed Cosmopolitan Book.

• 2. Peak Era And Diversification

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  In the 1920s and 1930s, Hearst owned the biggest media conglomerate in the world. It included a number of magazines and newspapers in major cities. Hearst also began acquiring radio stations to complement his papers. He saw financial challenges in the early 1920s when he used company funds to build Hearst Castle in San Simeon. He supported movie production at Cosmopolitan Productions during that same period. This eventually led to the merger of the magazine Hearst International with Cosmopolitan in 1925. Despite some financial troubles, Hearst began extending his reach in 1921 purchasing the Detroit Times. He added The Boston Record and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that year. Hearst then added the Los Angeles Herald and Washington Herald as well as the Oakland Post-Enquirer. He bought the Syracuse Telegram and the Rochester Journal-American in 1922. He continued his buying spree into the mid-1920s purchasing the Baltimore News in 1923. The San Antonio Light arrived in 1924 along with the Albany Times Union. The Milwaukee Sentinel was acquired in 1924. In 1924, Hearst entered the tabloid market in New York City with the New York Daily Mirror. This paper was meant to compete with the New York Daily News. In addition to print and radio, Hearst established Cosmopolitan Pictures in the early 1920s. It distributed films under the newly created Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1929, Hearst and MGM created the Hearst Metrotone newsreels.

• 3. Great Depression And Political Controversy

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  The Great Depression hurt Hearst and his publications significantly. Cosmopolitan Book was sold to Farrar & Rinehart in 1931. After two years of leasing them to Eleanor Cissy Patterson, Hearst sold her The Washington Times and Herald in 1939. She merged them to form the Washington Times-Herald. That year he also bought the Milwaukee Sentinel from Paul Block. He absorbed his afternoon Wisconsin News into the morning publication. Also in 1939, he sold the Atlanta Georgian to Cox Newspapers which merged it with the Atlanta Journal. Following Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany, William Randolph Hearst personally instructed his reporters in Germany to only give positive coverage to Hitler and the Nazis. He fired journalists who refused to write stories favourable of German fascism. During this time, high ranking Nazis were given space to write articles in Hearst press newspapers including Hermann Göring and Alfred Rosenberg. Hearst, with his chain now owned by his creditors after a 1937 liquidation, had to merge some of his morning papers into his afternoon papers. In Chicago, he combined the morning Herald-Examiner and the afternoon American into the Herald-American in 1939. This followed the 1937 combination of the New York Evening Journal and the morning American into the New York Journal-American. The sale of the Omaha Daily Bee went to the World-Herald.

• 4. Postwar Consolidation And Digital Shift

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  Afternoon papers were a profitable business in pre-television days often outselling their morning counterparts. They featured stock market information in early editions while later editions were heavy on sporting news with results of baseball games and horse races. After the war, both television news and suburbs experienced explosive growth. Thus evening papers were more affected than those published in the morning whose circulation remained stable while their afternoon counterparts sales plummeted. In 1947, Hearst produced an early television newscast for the DuMont Television Network called I.N.S. Telenews. In 1948 he became the owner of WBAL-TV in Baltimore. The earnings of Hearst's three morning papers supported the company's money-losing afternoon publications such as the Los Angeles Herald-Express. The New York Journal-American and the Chicago American also lost money. The company sold the latter paper in 1956 to the Chicago Tribunes owners who changed it to the tabloid-size Chicago Today in 1969. It ceased publication in 1974. In 1960, Hearst also sold the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He sold the Detroit Times to The Detroit News that same year. After a lengthy strike it sold the Milwaukee Sentinel to the afternoon Milwaukee Journal in 1962. The same year Hearst's Los Angeles papers merged to become the evening Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. The 1962, 63 New York City newspaper strike left the city with no papers for over three months. The Boston Record and the Evening American merged in 1961 as the Record-American. In 1964, the Baltimore News-Post became the Baltimore News-American.

• 5. Modern Portfolio And Acquisitions

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  Hearst moved into hardcover publishing by acquiring Arbor House in 1978 and William Morrow and Company in 1981. In 1982, the company sold the Boston Herald American to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation which renamed the paper as The Boston Herald. That same year closed the 213-year-old Baltimore News-American after a failed attempt to reach a joint operating agreement. On the 8th of November 1990, Hearst Corporation acquired a 20% stake of ESPN Inc from RJR Nabisco for an estimated price between $165 million and $175 million. Over the last 25 years, the ESPN investment is said to have accounted for at least 50% of total Hearst Corp profits. It is worth at least $13 billion. In 1993, Hearst closed the San Antonio Light after it purchased the rival San Antonio Express-News from Murdoch. In April 1995, Netscape Communications Corporation announced Hearst was part of a group of private investors who purchased a stake in the company. On the 31st of July 1996, Hearst and the Cisneros Group of Companies of Venezuela announced plans to launch Locomotion. In March 1997, Hearst Broadcasting announced that it would merge with Argyle Television Holdings II for $525 million. The merger was completed in August to form Hearst-Argyle Television later renamed as Hearst Television in 2009. In 1999, Hearst sold its Avon and Morrow book publishing activities to HarperCollins.

• 6. Corporate Governance And Family Trust

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  Under William Randolph Hearst's will, a common board of thirteen trustees administers the Hearst Foundation and the trust that owns the Hearst Corporation. Its composition is fixed at five family members and eight outsiders. The foundations shared ownership until tax law changed to prevent this. In 2009, it was estimated to be the largest private company managed by trustees in this way. As of 2017, the trustees include Anissa Boudjakdji Balson granddaughter of fifth son David Whitmire Hearst Sr. Lisa Hearst Hagerman is granddaughter of third son John Randolph Hearst Sr. George Randolph Hearst III is grandson of Hearst's eldest son George Randolph Hearst Sr. He is publisher of the Albany Times Union. William Randolph Hearst III is son of second son William Randolph Hearst Jr. and chairman of the board of the corporation. Virginia Hearst Randt is daughter of late former chairman and fourth son Randolph Apperson Hearst. Non-family members include James M. Asher chief legal and development officer of the corporation. David J. Barrett is former chief executive officer of Hearst Television Inc. Frank A. Bennack Jr. is former chief executive officer and executive vice chairman of the corporation. Gilbert C. Maurer died the 6th of April 2025 as former president of Hearst Magazines. Steven R. Swartz serves as president and chief executive officer of the corporation. Paul G. Taylor is senior vice president of the corporation and president and chief executive officer of Fitch Group. The trust dissolves when all family members alive at the time of Hearst's death in August 1951 have died.