21st Century Fox acquires majority stake in National Geographic magazine
For the last 18 years, Fox and National Geographic have co-owned the Nat Geo cable channels, while the nonprofit foundation has owned and operated all other National Geographic media properties.
Now all of those media properties — including the flagship magazine, the book publishing business and the branded content studio National Geographic Studios — are being combined with the television channels into a single entity, called National Geographic Partners. Fox will own a 73 per cent stake in National Geographic Partners, while the National Geographic Society will own 27 per cent. That being said, Fox will not have editorial control of the new company. The board will be split among eight members, four chosen by Fox and four from National Geographic, with the chairman rotating between representatives from each company.
In exchange for the majority stake, Fox will give the nonprofit foundation US$725m, boosting its endowment to more than $1bn.
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