Rupert Murdoch's media kingdom spans contintents

Since 1976, the New York Post has served as the throne from which Rupert Murdoch controls a media empire encompassing all major English-speaking markets. Mr. Murdoch's News Corporation Limited extends throughout Australia, where it is based, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In the past year, News Corporation has even gained a foothold in Asia with its purchase of the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong.

Murdoch began operating outside Australia in 1968 with the purchase of News of the World, a British Sunday paper. His 1985 purchase of 13 Ziff-Davis magazines and Fox Broadcasting intensified his presence in the US. Nearly half his company's profits now come from the US.

On March 1, 1987, News Corporation acquired the Herald and Weekly Times Group in Australia. This made News Corporation the largest publisher of English-language newspaper titles in the world.

United States: News Corporation's US newspapers are the New York Post, the San Antonio Express-News, and the Boston Herald. Magazine, book, and printing interests in the US include Automobile, Elle (50 percent ownership), European Travel & Life, New Woman, New York, Premiere (50 percent ownership), Star, 15 aviation and travel magazines, Harper and Row Publishers Inc., Salem House Limited, and World Printing.

News Corporation also owns Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Fox Broadcasting Company, and seven television stations in major US cities.

Since Fox Broadcasting Company qualifies as a program service rather than a network under Federal Communications Commission definitions, it is not restricted by the regulations that affect the three major networks.

United Kingdom: News Corporation's broadcasting endeavor there is Sky Channel, a Pan-European satellite which remains unprofitable.

Its newspapers in the United Kingdom include The Sunday Times, The Sun, and News of the World. Magazines, commercial printing, and books include Elle (owns 50 percent), Sky (owns 50 percent), Trader, Geographia Limited, Robert Nicholson Publications, Times Books, and three supplements to the Times. The Financial Times of London ia a new member of the Murdoch stable through the News Corporation's 20.4 percent interest in Pearson Group.

Australia: In Australia, Murdoch runs the Australian, the Daily Mirror in Sydney, the Herald in Melbourne, and Western Australia's Sunday Times. News Corporation's magazine interests also include several leaders in the homemaker magazine market.

News Corporation holds 50 percent interest in Ansett Transport Industries Limited, a diversified Australian company with a large airline. The company also has newspapers in Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

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