Hearst

Hearst Family Trust | Hearst Corporation | Hearst Communications

Hearst is a broadly diversified publisher and an enduring pillar of American journalism. Founded by William Randolph Hearst in 1887 when he took control of his father’s San Francisco Examiner, Hearst now owns and operates 24 daily newspapers, 200 magazine editions worldwide, 35 television stations, and two radio stations, among other news and non-news businesses. Hearst-owned titles include the San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, San Antonio Express-News, Houston Chronicle, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, O, Road & Track, Woman’s Day, Men’s Health, Veranda, and Town & Country.

The company has remained privately controlled by the Hearst Family Trust since William Randolph’s 1951 death. The provisions of the trust require five trustees’ seats be reserved for Hearst family members, while the remaining eight are filled by company executives. The trust will dissolve upon the death of the remaining grandchildren who were born during William Randolph Hearst’s lifetime, including cousins William Randolph Hearst II and William Randolph Hearst III.

Steven R. Swartz is chief executive officer of Hearst Corporation. William Randolph Hearst III is chairman of the board.

The company took its first steps toward becoming the first national newspaper chain when William Randolph bought the New York Morning Journal to gain entry Into the fiercely competitive New York metropolitan market. Quickly establishing itself with the benefit of young Hearst’s eye for good design and star talent, the Journal fought its way to preeminence in the most contested news market in America. Other major-market acquisitions followed.

Access to his father’s mining fortune allowed Hearst to hire top writers and artists of his time—often poached from competitors—and fund publicity stunts. In promoting “journalism that acts,” Hearst in 1897 sent reporter Karl Decker to Havana to help Cuban independence figure Evangelina Cisneros break out of jail. Her dramatic escape to America and subsequent celebrity status sold newspapers for Hearst. It also contributed to mounting anti-Spanish sentiment that was laying the groundwork for US entry into the 1898 Spanish-American war.

The budding mogul also pioneered new tactics in sensationalism: abundant self-promotion, significant page space dedicated to illustrations, and deploying emerging techniques for printing photographs and comic strips. Hearst papers emphasized crime, municipal corruption, politics, and war coverage. Many of his innovations and improvements, including a multi-column layout, large bolded headlines, and comic strip syndication, have become common practice in modern news publishing.

Hearst’s success, brazenness, and position as a rich outsider lead to other publications resentfully attempting to discredit his style of reporting, calling it “yellow journalism.” Ultimately the Journal won over readers, and became one of the best-selling newspapers in America.

Hearst went on to expand his media empire, acquiring more newspapers, along with magazines, radio stations, and movie studios. At its height, Hearst’s news conglomerate was the largest in the world, and claimed the readership of an estimated 20% of the American public. But after being forced to sell off assets during the Great Depression, the high-living millionaire became protective of his remaining wealth.

Once strongly aligned with the Democratic Party, the editorial tone shifted in the 1930s. Hearst harshly criticized FDR and the New Deal, and later, printed favorable coverage of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi party. He lost readers and was not able to regain previous levels of prosperity.

In the years following the death of its founder, Hearst Corporation expanded business through acquisition, diversification, and marketing. Good hiring and a commitment to journalistic excellence won awards and improved its reputation. According to Forbes, the company’s 2023 revenue was $12 billion, making it the 37th largest private company in the U.S. that year.

Hearst is a stabilizing force in an industry undergoing massive upheaval and transformation. Casey Seiler, editor and vice president of the Heart-owned Times Union, reported that he and his paper have been shielded from some of the hardships that have hit many outlets and journalists in recent years.

“In an age when rapacious hedge funds are stripping papers for parts, Hearst is still investing in journalism both in its existing properties and those it acquires,” wrote Seiler via email. “We’ve expanded into the Hudson Valley as other chains have reduced their newsrooms, and my [Hearst] colleagues in Connecticut are being very smart with their additions. I’ve worked for Hearst for 25 years, and I doubt I would still be in the business if I had landed somewhere else in 2000.”

But the conglomerate is not immune to the risks of modern reporting. According to Semafor, two Hearst magazines, Esquire and Road & Track, pulled three well-reported exposes on public figures and high-profile events in recent years due to fears of legal retaliation and a “singular focus on the bottom line,” which Semafor attributes to Hearst’s imported, corporately trained management staff.

The Hearst family continues to be involved in both the investment and the publishing sides of the company. Will Hearst is Hearst Corporation’s chairman; George Hearst III is the Times Union’s president and publisher. Lisa Hearst Hagerman and Virginia Hearst Rand serve as trustees with the Hearst Family Trust. Forbes places the Hearst family as the 14th wealthiest family in America, with a net worth of $22.4 billion.