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1
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Wikipedia
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Google was the biggest funder in 2020 along with Wojcicki Foundation (YouTube) Foundation while the largest donor to its endowment is Arcadia, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin. Other major donors include Google.org, Amazon, Musk Foundation, George Soros, Craig Newmark, Facebook and the late Jim Pacha.
Wikipedia spends $55M/year on salaries and programs with a total of $112M in expenses in 2020 while all content is user-generated (free).
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Non Profit
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Digital Only
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In July 2020, there were 5B visitors to Wikipedia. BBC reports, via Wikipedia, that the site had on average in 2020, 1.7 billion unique visitors every month. SimilarWeb reports over 5B monthly visits for April 2021.
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1,700,000,000
|
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2
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FOX
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Rupert Murdoch has a controlling interest in News Corp.
Rupert Murdoch Executive Chairman, News Corp, son Lachlan K. Murdoch, Co-Chairman, News Corp, Executive Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Fox Corporation, Executive Chairman, NOVA Entertainment Group. Fox News is owned by the Fox Corporation, which is owned in part by the Murdoch Family (39% share). It’s also important to point out that the same person with Fox News ownership, Rupert Murdoch, owns News Corp with the same 39% share, and News Corp owns the New York Post, HarperCollins, and the Wall Street Journal. Other top share owners: The Vanguard Group, Inc. (13.05%), Independent Franchise Partners LL..(7.76%), Yacktman Asset Management LP (5.55%), BlackRock Fund Advisors (4.99%). Grew operating revenue to $2.9bn in 2020, from $2.5bn in 2016. Fox has 28 owned-and-operated stations, and 43 FOX affiliates under Nexstar and 59 Fox affiliates with Sinclair.
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Publicly Traded
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TV and Digital
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2.6M in Jan. 2021. 3.6 million households – Average weekday prime time news audience in 2020. Website visits in Dec. 2020: FOX 332M. Source: Adweek and Press Gazette. However, unique monthly views were 113M in Dec. 2020.
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833,000,000
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3
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CNN
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(Updated May 18, 2021)
The owner of CNN is now a "new" company between Discovery Media and Warner Media LLC. Name yet to be disclosed. CEO David Zaslav.
AT&T will remain the largest shareholder. Warner Media LLC also owns HBO, Otter Media, Warner Brothers, and Turner Broadcasting System.
According to SEC filings, the biggest shareholders include: Randall L. Stephenson, John J. Stephens, John T. Stankey, The Vanguard Group, Inc. (7.43%), BlackRock Fund Advisors (4.85%), and SSgA Funds Management, Inc. (4.13%). CNN’s operating revenue jumped to $1.65bn in 2020, from $1.4bn in 2016. Elliott Management took a $3.2 billion stake in AT&T in September 2019, (the company was worth $210 billion May 18, 2021), calling in a letter for “improved strategic focus” and “enhanced leadership.” NY Posts report the hedge fund’s execs weren’t in the room when negotiations to were taking place.
In April, Discovery said it had 15 million subscribers for its direct-to-consumer video-streaming services, which include Discovery+, Eurosport Player and Food Network Kitchen. AT&T doesn’t break out numbers for HBO Max alone but has said that, combined with HBO, there are 44.2 million subscribers, most of them HBO-only customers. By comparison, Netflix had 207 million subscribers globally as of the first quarter, while Disney+ had 103.6 million.
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Publicly Traded
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TV and Digital
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2.8 million households Jan 2021 – Average weekday prime time news audience in 2020 was 1.6. add to this, unique visits in Dec. 2020: CNN 162 million in the US. Source: CNN. (838M views a month worldwide according to Press Gazette.
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482,000,000
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4
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E.W. Scripps Local TV (160 Local Cable TV)
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E.W. Scripps: Warren Buffet funded EW Scripps to buy Ion Media but Comcast owns Scripps' cable provider operation.
The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ: SSP) is a diversified media company focused on creating a better-informed world. As the nation’s fourth-largest local TV broadcaster, Scripps serves communities with quality, objective local journalism and operates a portfolio of 61 stations in 41 markets. Scripps’ national networks reach nearly every American through the news outlets Court TV and Newsy and popular entertainment brands ION, Bounce, Grit, Laff and Court TV Mystery. Scripps is the nation’s largest holder of broadcast spectrum. Scripps runs an award-winning investigative reporting newsroom in Washington, D.C., and is the longtime steward of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Founded in 1878, Scripps has held for decades to the motto, “Give light and the people will find their own way.” Recently combining Ion media with Scripps’ Katz networks and Newsy, the move created a full-scale national television networks business. ION reaches more than 100 million homes through over-the-air and pay TV platforms.
Scripps said the $2.65 billion deal was financed with $800 million in terms loans, $550 million in secured notes, $500 million of unsecured notes, a $600 million investment from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and cash from Ion’s balance sheet.
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Publicly Traded
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TV and Digital
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Claims daily reach of over 11M. Owns 60 TV stations in 41 markets (see map) and reaches 100 million homes. Newsy, one of its news products has an average of 202K visitors a month (SimilarWeb April 2021) but it's hold of local tv, radio, Stitcher, Cracked, Newsy and more.
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330,000,000
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5
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ABC NEWS
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Robert (Bob) A. Iger is Chairman of Disney and former CEO of ABC and a majority shareholder.
The largest shareholder is the Laurene Powell Jobs Trust, which holds stock that she inherited from her husband Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs received the Disney stock when they acquired Pixar. Majority voting shareholders are Robert A. Iger, Christine McCarthy, Disney Senior Executive Vice President and CFO; Alan Braverman, Disney Senior Executive Vice President, General Counsel. ABC News is a branch of ABC, which is a branch of Walt Disney Television, which is a branch of Disney Media Networks, which is part of The Walt Disney Company. The Walt Disney Company who also own ESPN, ABC, Lifetime, History, A&E, and FX, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm. The Vanguard Group, Inc. (7.66%), BlackRock Fund Advisors (4.36%) and SSgA Funds Management, Inc. (4.11%). ABC has 8 owned-and-operated stations, and 30 ABC affiliates under Nexstar and 41 ABC affiliates with Sinclair.
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Publicly Traded
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TV and Digital
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9.9 million -– average ABC's "World News Tonight" evening news ratings race Dec. 2020. Nielsen.
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300,000,000
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6
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NBC NEWS
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The Roberts family’s control via super-voting shares of Comcast which owns NBCUniversal News Group who owns CNBC and NBC.
The owner of NBC and MSNBC is Comcast. NBC’s parent company is NBCUniversal, an umbrella company that also owns Fandango, Hulu, Universal Pictures, and Telemundo. NBCUniversal is then owned by parent company Comcast. Brian L. Roberts is Chairman and CEO of Comcast Corporation. Since 2013, the company has been wholly owned by Comcast, which bought GE's ownership stake. Three biggest shareholders: The Vanguard Group, Inc (8.11%), Capital Research & Management Co. (4.57%), BlackRock Fund Advisors (4.26%). NBC has 11 owned-and-operated stations and New England Cable News, and 35 NBC affiliates under Nexstar and 24 CBS affiliates with Sinclair.
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Publicly Traded
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TV and Digital
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8.3 million viewers – Average nightly viewers of NBC's "Nightly News" Dec. 2020. Nielsen. ComScore also reports their digital uniques for Feb. 2021 at 194,503,000.
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249,000,000
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7
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CBS NEWS
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Chair is Shari Redstone, daughter of the late Sumner Redstone. The family still has majority voting shareholders of the parent company Viacom CBS Inc.
The company's main assets include the Paramount Pictures film and television studio, CBS. Other major owners: The Vanguard Group, Inc.(10.19%), Credit Suisse Securities (USA) (6.25%), BlackRock Fund Advisors, (6.21%), SSgA Funds Management (5.88%). CBS News, owned by the CBS Corporation, is in turn owned by National Amusements. National Amusements has an 80% voting majority and also owns the major company Viacom, the company behind Paramount Pictures, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, CMT, and VH1. CBS has 29 owned-and-operated stations, and 50 CBS affiliates under Nexstar and 30 CBS affiliates with Sinclair.
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Publicly Traded
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TV and Digital
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6.4 million – Average CBS Evening News" viewers Dec. 2020. Nielsen. ComScore also reports their digital uniques for Feb. 2021 at 181,143,000.
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192,000,000
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8
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YAHOO News
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Verizon Media announced May 3, 2021 that it would sell its digital media unit, including Yahoo and AOL, to private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $5 billion for a 90% stake in the business, with Verizon retaining a 10% stake. Verizon had acquired Yahoo News in 2017 for $4.48 billion but this deal includes AOL which Verizon paid a collective $9 billion to acquire. Verizon announced in early 2021, it will put all of its media properties (Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Fantasy) whereas TechCrunch, AutoBlog and Engadget have not been renamed or rebranded yet.
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Publicly Traded
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Digital Only
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3M paid subscribers across Yahoo media brands. Yet, 175M on average uniques are reported monthly to the site by Comscore.
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175,000,000
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9
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MSNBC
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Comcast is described as a family business. Brian L. Roberts, chairman, president, and CEO of Comcast, is the son of founder Ralph J. Roberts. The Roberts family’s control via super-voting shares of Comcast which owns NBCUniversal News Group who owns CNBC and NBC and MSNBC.
Roberts owns or controls about 1% of all Comcast shares and all of the Class B supervoting shares, which gives him an "undilutable 33% voting power over the company". Comcast owns NBCUniversal News Group which owns CNBC and NBC. Brian L. Roberts is Chairman and CEO of Comcast Corporation. Since 2013, the company has been wholly owned by Comcast, which bought GE's ownership stake. Three biggest shareholders: The Vanguard Group, Inc (8.11%), Capital Research & Management Co.(4.57%), BlackRock Fund Advisors (4.26%).
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Publicly Traded
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TV and Digital
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2.75M in Jan. 2021. Average weekday prime time news audience in 2020 was 2M. Nielsen. Website visits in Dec. 2020: CNBC 170M. Source: Adweek and Press Gazette.
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170,000,000
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10
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NPR
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Federal government and donors to 1000 affiliate stations.
Affiliate stations all raise their own donor funds and are given a portion of the government funds. Revenue $258 M. National donors.
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Non-profit owned/governed by local public media organizations, federally funded through Corporation for Public Broadcasting and local donors. Government funding plays a role but local donors are significant force.
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Radio and Digital
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165M monthly listeners (Morning Edition, As It Happens, Kai Ryssdal, Hourly national news feed, Terry Gross)
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165,000,000
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11
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Hearst Communications
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Majority owned by Hearst Family.
The media company owns 50% of A&E, 20% of ESPN, the History channel, 18 daily newspapers, 25 lifestyle magazines including Esquire and Harper's Bazaar, 27 local TV stations, satellite radio and more.
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Private For Profit
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Print/Digital/TV/Radio
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Local-TV reaches 19% of US households. Millions of viewers of A&E, ESPN, and digital sites. Hard to measure as a whole. Comscore Feb. 2021 monthly reports 161,438 uniques
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161,438,000
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12
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Gannett Co., Inc owns USA Today and 250 daily titles (see Index for newspapers by state)
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Gannett Co., Inc. owns USA Today and over 250 dailies. In November 2019, New Media Investment Group (which owns the legacy GateHouse Media assets) purchased Gannett, changing the name of the combined company to Gannett Co., Inc. and keeping the GCI stock ticker.
The McLean, Virginia-based company recently slashed $654 million from the high-interest debt incurred by New Media Investment Group to fund Gannett's $1.2 billion acquisition in November 2019. New Media had borrowed these funds from private equity giant Apollo Capital Management through a five-year senior secured term loan facility. Apollo has now purchased Yahoo from Verizon, May 2021. Gannett refinanced that Apollo debt to $500 million of that Apollo debt into a convertible note with an interest rate of 6% and a maturation date of 2027, replacing debt that was owed to Apollo at a rate of 11.5% and due in 2024. In addition, they refinanced the remaining 11.5% term loan in February 2021 to a L+700 broadly syndicated (35+ owners) public Term Loan B. Here is a link to their release. Its largest public equity owners are passive investors / index funds. The IR team confirmed, "we do not have significant equity hedge fund ownership, our largest type of owner after passive investment is retail holders." Vanguard and Blackrock are the biggest institutional shareholders around 10-14%.
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Publicly Traded
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Print and Digital
|
8.7M daily circulation and 863,000 digital subscribers. It is the largest U.S. newspaper company by far, in print circulation. As of Q1 21 they report readership of 13 million (US daily + UK weekly) and 9.3 million US daily print readership and averaged 144 million monthly unique visitors during Q1 21 per Comscore.
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144,000,000
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13
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Forbes
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Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. A Hong Kong-based group of investors holds the majority stake in Forbes Media company.
Steve Forbes is the editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine. As of spring 2020, the magazine’s audience was about 5.8 million readers. In November 2020, the magazine's website had 69 million monthly U.S. visitors, according to Forbes.
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Private For Profit
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Print and Digital
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140 million people across all platforms (2021, self-reported), 661,404 print circulation (2020, Alliance for Audited Media), 101.58M on average monthly visits (SimilarWeb April 2021).
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|
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14
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PBS
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Federal government and donors to 330 affiliate stations.
Affiliate stations all raise their own donor funds and are given a portion of the government funds. Revenue $600M. National donors:
Acton Family Fund
Adobe Foundation
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Anne Ray Foundation
Arthur Vining Davis Foundations
The Atlantic Philanthropies
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Charles H. Revson Foundation
Ford Foundation
George Lucas Family Foundation
The Grable Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Kern Family Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Humanities
Newman’s Own Foundation
Oculus
Orfalea Foundation
Skoll Foundation
Verizon
W. K. Kellogg Foundation
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Non-profit owned/governed by local public media organizations, federally funded through Corporation for Public Broadcasting and local donors. Government funding plays a role but local donors are significant force.
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Television and Digital
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Each month, PBS reaches over 126 million people through television and 26 million people online. PBS reaches 89% of non-internet homes, 82% of lower-income homes, and 78% of rural homes.
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126,000,000
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15
|
New York Post (founded in 1801)
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The New York Post is owned by News Corp, owned by Rupert Murdoch who also owns Fox News, the London Times, The Wall Street Journal and many major media properties in Australia.
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Publicly Traded
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Print and Digital
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184,668 Sunday readers (2019, source), 6.5M subscribers of that, 5.7M get the paper digitally (2020, source), 106.85M on average monthly visits (SimilarWeb April 2021).
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106,850,000
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16
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Bloomberg TV, site, terminals and BusinessWeek
|
Michael Bloomberg owns 88% of Bloomberg LP.
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Private For Profit
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Print and Digital
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Bloomberg LP has around 250,000 paid subscribers to its website (2020, WSJ). It has 104M on average monthly visits (SimilarWeb April 2021).
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104,310,000
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17
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Advance Publications
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Patriarch Donald Newhouse and Newhouse Family.
Owns Conde Nast (which owns The New Yorker, Vogue, Wired, Vanity Fair, GQ to name a few). It also owns Reddit and Advance Local.
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Private For Profit
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Print and Digital
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Wired, The New Yorker and Vogue alone each have over 1 million paid subscribers and add to that individual website traffic and we are well into the millions. Condé Nast also introduced The Influence Network, unveiling new content, measurable performance and incremental audiences according to Nielsen. More than 150 digital video pilots in production for the 2020-21 season. Conde Nast content collectively reaches over a billion people a month. They also own Reddit which has 1.6B monthly visits according to SimilarWeb May 2021.
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100,000,000
|
|
18
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Vox Media (includes New York, Recode, The Verge, Intelligencer and The Cut)
|
Vox Media is owned by a number of investors: NBCUniversal, General Atlantic, Providence Equity Partners, Comcast Ventures, Daniel Rosensweig, Jeffrey Weiner, Accel. Vox raised more than $300 million in funding, including $200 million from NBCUniversal.
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Private/Private Equity
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Digital only
|
ComScore reports Feb. 2021, unique visits at 95,568,000 that includes all sites.
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95,568,000
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|
19
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Business Insider
|
Axel Springer SE German Publisher is majority owned by KKR (Henry Kravis, George R. Roberts, Jerome Kohlberg Jr. Private Equity).
Axel Springer SE is a German digital publishing house which is the largest in Europe, with numerous multimedia news brands. KKR owns 45% and has a majority control.
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Private For Profit
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Print and Digital
|
100k subscribers (2020, WSJ), 107.32M on average monthly uniques (SimilarWeb 2021). ComScore reports monthly uniques for Feb. 2021 are 95,340,000.
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95,340,000
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20
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Investopedia
|
DotDash is the parent subsidiary, founded originally by Scott Kurnit as About.com and now owned by Barry Diller’s digital media conglomerate, IAC and run by CEO Neil Voguel. Huge rise in traffic and calls themselves AI elite.
In 2010, Diller exchanged about 4.3 million IAC shares he held for 4.3 million shares of Class B shares in IAC that Liberty had held. These Class B shares hold a higher voting power than IAC's common shares - 10 votes per share. This gives him ownership of about 34 percent of the votes of IAC's shares, the largest voting stake in the company. He also has the option to increase the voting stake to 41 percent in the next nine months.
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Publicly Traded
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Digital Only
|
Reported 90 million visits per month, SimilarWeb April 2021.
|
90,000,000
|
|
21
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New York Times
|
Today, the Ochs-Sulzberger family, through several trusts, notably the Ochs-Sulzberger Trust, controls about 91 percent of the stock that elects 70 percent of the company's board members. A fifth-generation descendant of Ochs-Sulzberger, Arthur Gregg (A.G.) Sulzberger, its CEO is soft-spoken and measured.
For a hundred years, for better or worse, no institution has played a larger role in American culture and politics. And no corporation with comparable clout has been continuously controlled by a single family since 1896. Today almost a dozen Sulzberger cousins are at the NYT. The family has long seen itself as the keeper of the public trust. In 2009, Sulzberger Jr had to borrow $250m from Slim – at 14% interest. In Dec. 2020, the company said it had 6 million paying online readers, and for the first time more revenue from digital than print subscribers. The Times had $800m on hand, with $250m available through a revolving credit line. It no longer has any debt, and last year it paid off a loan that allowed it to buy back its Manhattan headquarters. Other majority shareholders: Carlos Slim Helú and Fairpointe Capital (16%), Vanguard (8.11%), Blackrock (7.43%). In 2015, it was reported that the Ochs-Sulzberger trust elects 70 percent of the company’s board of directors. NY Magazine
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Publicly Traded
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Print and Digital
|
Over 6 million paid subscribers. ComScore reports Feb. 2021 with 89,757,000 monthly uniques.
|
89,757,000
|
|
22
|
Nexstar Local Television News (197 Local Cable TV)
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Perry Sook is the Founder, Chairman and CEO and has a controlling interest.
Nexstar in Irving Texas and reaches 68% of US household TV. Abry Partners also has a seat on the board and Barclays Bank lent them $900M in 2016. Pitchbook
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Publicly Traded
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TV and Digital
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Owns 197 full power stations (including partner stations) in 115 markets. Comscore Feb. 2021 reports 85,548,000 uniques
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85,548,000
|
|
23
|
CNET
|
Red Ventures owns CNET. Ric Elias is Red Ventures CEO and Co-Founder. He bought it from Viacom CBS in 2020.
Red Ventures received $250 million from Silver Lake, an international private technology investor. Its other minority shareholder, General Atlantic, a global growth investor, has been with the company since 2010.
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Private For Profit
|
Digital only
|
84.34M on average monthly visits (SimilarWeb, April 2021).
|
84,340,000
|
|
24
|
Washington Post
|
Jeff Bezos, Amazon and AWS founder, owns Nash Capital that includes the Washington Post, Arc publishing and Zeus technology for media and ad tech.
|
Private For Profit
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Print and Digital
|
2 million subscribers. WashPost reports 82.5M in Feb. 2021. ComScore reports Feb 2021 monthly uniques 82,492,000
|
82,500,000
|
|
25
|
PBS NewsHour
|
PBS NewsHour is part of WETA, the public television operation in DC. Funding from US Government through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting AND many corporate and private donors:
BNSF, Consumer Cellular, Johnson & Johnson, Fidelity, Estate of Arnold Adams, Agua Fund, American Securities Foundation, Paul and Kathy Anderson, Georgette Bennett and Leonard Polonsky, Jim and Nancy Bildner, Cambia Health Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Arthur D. Collins, Jr. Foundation, The Commonwealth Fund, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, Deerbrook Charitable Trust, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, Foundation for Child Development, Kristin Gamble, Google News Initiative, Gruber Family Foundation, Harrods Creek Fund, Heising-Simons Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Jerome Jacobson Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Kendeda Fund, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Brigitte Kerpsack and Dave Olsen, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Judy and Peter Blum Kovler Foundation, The Lemelson Foundation, Lumina Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Jacqueline B. Mars, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Friedrika Merck, Fund for Nonprofit, News at The Miami Foundation, Howard & Abby Milstein Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, National Science Foundation, John and Wendy Neu Family Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Park Foundation, PEW Charitable Trusts, Public Welfare Foundation, Jay and Sharon Rockefeller, Roger and Victoria Sant Trust, Tom and Laurie Saylak, Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) – National Institutes of Health, Skoll Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, George and Camilla Smith, Sunrise Foundation,Target Foundation, Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, Koo and Patricia Yuen
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Federally funded through Corporation for Public Broadcasting and donors
|
TV and Digital
|
2.7 million people watch the program each night, and 8 million individuals watch in the course of a week, according to Nielsen ratings at the program's website.
|
81,000,000
|
|
26
|
Digital First Media/ Alden Global Capital (56 Dailies see in tab below)
|
Alden Global Capital owns all of Digital First. It was founded in 2007 by Randall D. Smith. Starting in 2009, Smith began quietly buying up newspaper chains around the U.S. Alden's managing President is Heath Freeman.
Smith, according to a New York Times profile published more than two decades ago, abhors publicity and avoids cameras. His brother, Russ, founded the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. alt-weekly City Papers, selling the companies for $4 million before founding the New York Press in 1989. Today, Alden's Digital First owns about 200 publications, including The Mercury News in San Jose, California, the Los Angeles Daily News and the Boston Herald. MNG Enterprises, Inc., doing business as Digital First Media and MediaNews Group, is a Denver, Colorado-based newspaper publisher owned by Alden Global Capital. Past investors in Alden have included the Knight Foundation (a nonprofit that, ironically, funds sustainable journalism projects), pension funds for employees of Coca-Cola, Citigroup and CalPERS (the California public employees’ retirement fund), as well as some nonprofit foundations and Swiss financial institutions.
|
Private Hedge Fund
|
Print and Digital
|
2.7M daily circulation. Per month, they reach 81M readers.
|
81,000,000
|
|
27
|
Weather Channel
|
The Weather Channel is an American pay television channel owned by the Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of the Allen Media Group. Byron Allen bought the Weather Channel for $300 million in 2018 from Comcast, Blackstone and Bain Capital. Allen considers his stewardship of the Weather Channel a life-saving endeavor.
|
Publicly Traded
|
Digital and Cable
|
The Weather Channel reaches 80M US households.
|
80,000,000
|
|
28
|
Tribune (Chicago Tribune and 10 other dailies see in tab below)
|
Alden Global Capital owns 32% vying for more. Stewart Bainum, Chairman of Choice Hotels is now making a bid with Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss. Patrick and Michele Soon Shiong who owns the LA Times owns 24% of Tribune.
|
Publicly Traded
|
Print and Digital
|
2.5M daily circulation in eight states and that means nearly 75M readers a month.
|
75,000,000
|
|
29
|
Sinclair Local Television News (246 Local Cable TV)
|
The Smith Family controls Sinclair.
David Smith, whose father founded the company in the Nixon era, recently ended his 28-year reign as CEO, and along with his brothers maintains what an industry publication called “iron-clad control” of the billion-dollar media empire as well as the company’s majority financial interest. Sinclair controls 72% of US household local TV. David Smith, Frederick Smith and Christopher Ripley have the most control along with 3 largest shareholders: HG Vora Capital Management LLC 6.69%, Conifer Management, LLC, 5.62%, Vanguard Group Inc 5.56%, BlackRock Inc 4.54%. Sources: Pitchbook and New Yorker.
|
Publicly Traded
|
TV and Digital
|
Owns 246 owned or operated stations in 100 markets. They have on average 2.5M Prime Time Viewers.
|
75,000,000
|
|
30
|
Univision
|
Wade Davis and Searchlight Capital Partners. Mexican media company Grupo Televisa retains a 36% stake.
According to the WSJ, in 2020, "Univision Communications Inc. agreed to sell a majority stake to a bidding group that includes former Viacom finance chief Wade Davis and private-equity firm Searchlight Capital Partners, ending a long period of uncertainty over the fate of the Spanish-language broadcaster.
The bidding group paid about $526 million for the 64% stake in Univision, implying an equity valuation of about $821 million, according to people familiar with the matter. Searchlight was founded in 2010 by Erol Uzumeri, Oliver Haarmann and Eric Zinterhofer. The firm has invested in Spanish-language media such as Hemisphere Media and Liberty Latin America, a telecommunications company with operations in Chile and Puerto Rico that is affiliated with media mogul John Malone."
|
Publicly Traded
|
TV and Digital
|
Number 1 Spanish language network, 1.3M approximate viewers (2020, self-reported). Prime Time audience has continued around 1.2M, with 72M on average monthly visits (SimilarWeb April 2021).
|
72,000,000
|
|
31
|
Buzzfeed/Huffpost
|
BuzzFeed acquired HuffPost from Verizon, reuniting CEO Jonah Peretti with website he co-founded. BuzzFeed. Verizon Media now has a minority stake in BuzzFeed as a result of the tie-up.
Buzzfeed is fueled by venture capital, originally 50M from Andreessen Horowitz. Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal invested $400 million in the company, valuing it at $1.7 billion in a 2016 funding round. But growth has slowed considerably in recent years. In 2017, the company began missing its revenue targets. Losses exceeded $50 million in several recent years.
|
Private For Profit - Venture Owned
|
Digital Only
|
Buzzfeed: 64 million unique visitors in February 2020 (self-reported). WashPost via Comscore reports Feb. 2021 uniques 63.6M.
|
63,600,000
|
|
32
|
Weather Network
|
Owned by Canadian Pelmorex, the Weather Network is a Canadian English-language weather information specialty channel.
It delivers weather information on television, digital platforms and TV apps. Currently, The Weather Network is available in Canada, the U.S. and the UK. Founded in 1989, "Pelmorex" is a portmanteau derived from the name of the company's chairman and controlling shareholder, Pierre L. Morrissette. Pelmorex is a market leader in operating multi-platform TV, Web and Mobile services in weather-related information categories under the leading brands The Weather Network, MétéoMédia, eltiempo.es and Clima. It also operates Canada's National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination System, part of Alert Ready.
|
Private For Profit
|
Digital and Cable
|
The company reaches over 60 million users internationally with a focus on North America, Europe and LATAM.
|
60,000,000
|
|
33
|
Gray Television (145 Local Cable TV stations across the U.S.)
|
Diversified shareholders. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems. Gray is currently in agreement to buy Meredith's TV stations for $2.7 billion, adding 17 mostly Fox and CBS affiliates to its portfolio and also in the process of buying Quincy Media in Illinois. The company has #1 ranked stations in 77 of its 102 markets and #2 ranked stations in 16 markets. Gray network affiliations are weighted towards NBC and CBS.
Top shareholders are Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (7.69%), The Retirement Systems of Alabama (6.83%), Capital Research & Management Co. (5.52%), The Vanguard Group, Inc. (4.73%), Darsana Capital Partners LP (4.66%), ClearBridge Investments LLC (4.58%), CEO Hilton H. Howell (4.39%) Robin Robinson Howell (4.30%)
|
Publicly Traded
|
TV and Digital
|
Operates 145 television stations and leading digital properties in 93 television markets, including the number-one rated television station in 68 markets and the first or second highest rated television station in 87 markets.
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60,000,000
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34
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Newsweek
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Unclear funding. Since Newsweek was spun off from Etienne Uzac's International Business Times Media in September 2018, Newsweek has been owned by Jonathan Davis and Dev Pragad.
Etienne Uzac co-founded International Business Times, which in 2013 bought Newsweek. In 2017, the company was rebranded as Newsweek Media Group. In 2018, CNN reported that Uzac and his wife, Marion Kim were resigning from Newsweek Media Group. Pragad serves as CEO overseeing all of Newsweek's operations. Davis has no operational role at Newsweek. Davis, is married to the president of Christian College, Olivet University. In 2020, Uzac pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering charges by the Manhattan district attorney’s office and has been accused of deep ties to a shadowy Christian cult, amid many other scandals. The opinion section is brimming with right-wing columnists: Nigel Farage, Newt Gingrich are regulars, as is Alan Dershowitz.
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Private For Profit
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Digital Only
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55M unique monthly views, 100K US print readers (2020, Media Kit)
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55,000,000
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35
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Wall Street Journal
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Rupert Murdoch through Dow Jones through News Corp
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Publicly Traded through News Corp but majority share control by Rupert Murdoch
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Print and Digital
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2 million digital subscribers (2020, Neiman)
Washpost reports via Comscore WSJ hit 54.1M in Feb. 2021.
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54,100,000
|
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36
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US News and World Report
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Mortimer Zuckerman, a Canadian American billionaire media proprietor, magazine editor, and investor.
He is the co-founder, executive chairman and former CEO of Boston Properties, one of the largest real estate investment trusts in the US. worth an estimated 2.7 billion. Mortimer Zuckerman donates to both Democrats and Republicans with more donations going to Democrats. U.S. News generates revenue through advertising. Founded in 1933, U.S. News is headquartered in Washington, D.C. with advertising, sales and corporate offices in New York and New Jersey and Brian Kelly has been the chief content officer since April 2007. The company is privately owned by Mortimer B. Zuckerman, with Eric Gertler serving as the Executive Chairman, William Holiber as the President & Chief Executive Officer, Kim Castro as the Editor & Chief Content Officer, Neil Maheshwari as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer and Brian Kelly as Editorial Director and Executive Vice President. Other titles include: usnews.com, annual guides of the authoritative Best Colleges and Best Hospitals rankings, as well as U.S. News Live with flagship conferences on important national conversations surrounding the Healthcare of Tomorrow and Workforce of Tomorrow.
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Private For Profit
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Print and Digital
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52.46M on average monthly visits (SimilarWeb April 2021).
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52,460,000
|
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37
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Advanced Local
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Patriarch Donald Newhouse and Newhouse Family.
(also owns Conde Nast which owns Vogue, Wired, Vanity Fair, GQ to name a few). Advance Publications is an American media company owned by the descendants of Samuel Irving Newhouse, Sr. A subsidiary, Advance Local, operates 12 local news and information websites affiliated more than 30 newspapers. Its headquarters are at 1 World Trade Center in New York, New York
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Private For Profit
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Print and Digital
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52M monthly uniques on local sites and 11M social media followers for Advance Local. (self-reported)
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52,000,000
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38
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The Hill
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Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications Inc. The owner. Jimmy Finkelstein is the current CEO of New Communications described as a “Republican and longtime friend who served as a fundraiser for Giuliani’s failed 2008 presidential run.
CNN reports, "Finkelstein resides at the nexus of President Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and John Solomon, the now-former executive at The Hill and current Fox News contributor who pushed conspiracy theories about Ukraine into the public conversation."
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Private For Profit
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Print and Digital
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51.66M on average monthly visits (SimilarWeb April 2021).
"print circulation of above 24,000 and is read by opinion leaders, including 100% of Congressional offices, the White House, political pundits, association executives, lobbyists and corporate leaders" (2021, self-reported)
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51,660,000
|
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39
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CBS 60 Minutes
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Chair is Shari Redstone, daughter of the late Sumner Redstone. The family still has majority voting shareholders of the parent company Viacom CBS Inc.
The company's main assets include the Paramount Pictures film and television studio, CBS. Other major owners: The Vanguard Group, Inc.(10.19%), Credit Suisse Securities (USA) (6.25%),
BlackRock Fund Advisors, (6.21%), SSgA Funds Management (5.88%).
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Publicly Traded
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TV and Digital
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Averaging 10.3 million per show 2020 season. Marketwatch
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50,000,000
|
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40
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McClatchy (30 major dailies see in tab below)
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Chatham Assets Management led by Anthony Melchiorre, a Chicago-area native who has earned a reputation on Wall Street as a tough negotiator.
Mr. Melchiorre manages over $4 billion in assets for clients through various funds, including some listed under a Cayman Islands address, where more favorable tax rates apply. Chatham’s media interests are led by two of its partners, Evan Ratner, a longtime Wall Street investor and a former analyst with Goldman Sachs, and Barry Schwartz, who has specialized in debt investments. Prior to buying McClatchy, Chatham Asset Management, acquired two-thirds of Canada's Postmedia, the publisher of The National Post, The Vancouver Sun and several other major Canadian papers, by trading a portion of the money it was owed for the majority ownership stake.
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Private Hedge Fund
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Print and Digital
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1.6M daily circulation, 2.4M Sunday circulation
|
48,000,000
|
|
41
|
AP
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Founded as an independent news cooperative, whose members are U.S. newspapers and broadcasters.
AP announced April 2021 that Google will help fund its expansion of its local news experiment called StoryShare, which helped newsrooms quickly share information around COVID. Currently 130 US newsrooms are using this service. Historically, local US newspapers have reported paying $1 million for the annual feed. AP reported in 2018, “growing revenue to $518.4 million in a challenging year for media... finishing our sixth consecutive year debt free.” But they have been losing licensing fees from mid-tier newspapers over the past 5 years. Overall revenue was down almost $100M from 2016. Revenue 2015 to 2016 grew 1 percent to $604.0 million, up from $595.7. More than 80% of AP revenue is from licensing fees, 7% is from AP ENS a broadcasting software, 8% came from licensing AP GMS provides global broadcasters with on-the-ground broadcast facilities, producers, reporters and technicians whenever and wherever news breaks, a Google grant funded AP StoryShare, a pilot project aimed at increasing local news coverage and fostering collaboration among our member news organizations in New York state. With support from the Google News Initiative, boost AP’s 50-state presence with the addition of 14 statehouse reporters in an unprecedented collaboration with Report for America.
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Non profit cooperative.
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Digital Only
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More than half the world’s population sees AP journalism every day. While its own website counts on average 45.67M unique visitors on average per month (SimilarWeb 2021).
The AP Network
-248 locations worldwide
-9 regional editing hubs
-99 countries
-Unrivaled 50-state footprint with a reporter in every U.S. state house.
-AP News app had 653k downloads in 2019 and 2.2 million users
-Over 1 billion page views on the platform
-AP’s output over:
2,000 stories per day
3,000 photos per day
200 news and sports videos per day
11,000 hours of LIVE video
Twitter: 13.7M followers
Facebook: 739K followers
LinkedIn: 167K followers
Instagram: 408K followers
YouTube: 1.1M subscribers and nearly 3 billion views. More than half the world's population sees an AP story every day.
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45,670,000
|
|
42
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The Verge (Vox)
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Vox Media, who owns The Verge, is owned by NBCUniversal, General Atlantic, Providence Equity Partners, Comcast Ventures, Daniel Rosensweig, Jeffrey Weiner, Accel.
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Private/Private Equity
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Digital Only
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44.40M on average monthly visits (SimilarWeb, April 2021).
|
44,400,000
|
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43
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Lee Enterprises (70 dailies see in tab below)
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In January 2020, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway decided to sell its newspaper business to Lee Enterprises Inc LEE.N for $140 million in cash. As part of the transaction, Berkshire became Lee’s sole lender, refinancing the Davenport, Iowa-based company’s existing debt and lending $576 million at a 9% interest rate.
Largest institutional owners include Cannell Capital LLC, Alden Global Capital, Franklin Mutual Advisors, Brent Baird holds about 6.0% of the company stock. CEO Kevin Mowbray is the owner of 1.6% of the company's shares.
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Publicly Traded
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Print and Digital
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1.2 M daily subscriptions and 43 M unique visitors to sites.
|
43,000,000
|
|
44
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The Guardian
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Guardian Media Group plc (GMG) is a British based mass media company owning various media operations including The Guardian and The Observer. The group is wholly owned by the Scott Trust Limited, which exists to secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian in perpetuity.
In 2008, it replaced the Scott Trust, which had owned The Guardian since 1936 into a not-for-profit Scott Trust, which has an endowment of £1bn built up over many years through past investments in companies such as AutoTrader.
Annette Thomas is chief executive officer of Guardian Media Group, the parent company of The Guardian and The Observer. In her twenty-five-year career, she has overseen some of the leading academic publishing and data analytics companies in the world including CEO of Macmillan Science and Education, where she launched Digital Science and was CEO of Web of Science Group.
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Non Profit
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Print and Digital
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107,899 average print circulation per issues (2021, ABC), 53,585 paid print subscribers (2021, ABC), 1M digital subscribers & regular contributors (2020, self-reported), the WashPost via ComScore reported monthly uniques for Feb. 2021 41.5M in the U.S.
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41,500,000
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