Zionikst Murdoch family buys out the National Geographic Magazine
The Unhived Mind - dave Gonzales
20th Century Fox bought National Geographic magazine
By Dave Gonzales Sep. 9, 2015 4:44 pm 20thcenturyfox
http://www.geek.com/news/20th-century-fox-bought-national-geographic-magazine-1633665/
The National Geographic television programming you have either been enjoying or ignoring has been brought to you by two entities: Rupert Murdoch’s company 20th Century Fox and the non-profit National Geographic Society. The latter also brought you the National Geographic websites and that magazine with the photos of exotic locals since 1888. That is, until today.
The National Geographic Society was formed in January 1888 and managed to put out the first issue of the magazine a scant nine months later in October. The first iteration of the magazine was text-only — the format didn’t change to emphasize photos until after 1900. The magazine has been the most consumer-facing product of the Society which also has funded scientific research and studies it has documented. It has a museum in Washington DC where it was founded and hosts a geography bee living up to the Society’s initial goal of promoting geographic knowledge.
18 years ago, The National Geographic society partnered with 20th Century Fox to bring content to television, recognizing that cable and the internet were going to be new venues to promote scientific exploration and education. This week, 20th Century Fox bought a majority share of the rest of National Geographic’s consumer-facing stuff, including the magazine. The new “partnership” sees Fox owning National Geographic’s media output in a 73% majority to the National Geographic Society’s 27% minority. This is the first time in 127 years that the Society hasn’t been in control of the magazine.
The new company is called National Geographic Partners and joins the National Geographic cable channels with the National Geographic magazines, National Geographic Studios, the company’s digital platforms and social media accounts, books, maps, children’s media, location-based entertainment, archival sales, catalog, licensing and, e-commerce businesses. The Society will keep control of the museum in DC and its related activities.
It’s unclear what changes the new Fox-heavy company will have on the Nat Geo media. The CEO of the new Natinal Geographic Partners, Declan Moore, used to be the Chief Media Officer at the National Geographic Society, and the first Chairman of the equally-Fox-and-NGS board is Gary Knell, the NGS President and CEO so in theory the same creative direction could be maintained, just with more resources on hand and without the headaches of being a non-profit company running a series of magazines and websites.
It looks like 20th Century Fox forked over $725 million for the privilege of being the owner of the majority of National Geographic Partners, which would put the National Geographic Society’s endowment at about one billion dollars. That seems to be the upside for the Society: a bigger investment in research and education. Gary Knell is quoted in the official press release on the matter: “The value generated by this transaction, including the consistent and attractive revenue stream that National Geographic Partners will deliver, ensures that we will have greater resources for this work, which includes our grant making programs that support scientists and explorers around the world.”
20th Century Fox, of course, gets to own a brand that has been recognizable to the general public for well over 100 years, and gets all the credibility that comes with it. Although they own the majority of the new company that controls everything, they only occupy half of the Board of Directors of that company. Basically, Fox is helping transition things like National Geographic magazine into the for-profit sector.
Could be good or bad, depending on your view of media purchases and future actions of all involved, but National Geographic is now part of the Fox family.