''The Herald and Weekly Times'' Pty Ltd (HWT) is a

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

publishing company based in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is owned and operated by News Pty Ltd, which as News Ltd, purchased the HWT in 1987.

Newspapers

The HWT's newspaper interests date back to 1840 and the launch of ''The Port Phillip Herald''. The company publishes the morning daily tabloid ''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a Conservatism, conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the American Rupert Murdoch, Murd ...

'', which was created in 1990 from a

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

of the company's morning tabloid paper, ''

The Sun News-Pictorial ''The Sun News-Pictorial'' (known as ''The Sun'') was a morning daily tabloid newspaper published in Melbourne, Victoria, from 1922 until its merger in 1990 with '' The Herald'' to form the '' Herald-Sun''. ''The Sun News-Pictorial'' was p ...

'', with its afternoon

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...

paper, '' The Herald''. ''The Herald'' had a 150-year history, and ''The Sun News-Pictorial'' a 68-year history, in Melbourne. The HWT had bought ''The Sun News-Pictorial'' in 1925. The HWT also publishes ''The Weekly Times'', aimed at farmers and rural businesses. The HWT bought a controlling stake in '' The Advertiser'' of

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

in 1929. From 1929 until 1987, HWT owned and operated Melbourne radio station 3DB. In 1929, 3DB along with 3UZ participated in experimental television broadcasts using the ''Radiovision'' system. ''The Advertiser'' took a stake in '' The News'' two years later. ''The News'' was sold in 1949. The HWT bought ''

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...

'' in 1969. By 1986 ''Queensland Press'' was the largest shareholder of HWT which was targeted for a takeover by the media tycoon

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...

in the course of the big media shake-up of 1986/87, which was enabled by the Australian Federal Government under Prime Minister

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991. He held office as the Australian Labor Party, leader of the La ...

to curry favour with the nation's major media and their owners in order to foster its re-election chances in the

1987 Australian federal election The 1987 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 11 July 1987, following the granting of a double dissolution on 5 June by the Governor-General Sir Ninian Stephen. Consequently, all 148 seats in the House of Representatives as wel ...

. In the end, some major assets of HWT were divided up between Murdoch's rival

Robert Holmes a Court The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...

. Holmes a Court agreed to drop his $1.4 billion bid for the Melbourne-based Herald and Weekly Times in return for the right to buy its two Perth newspapers, ''The West Australian'' and its afternoon counterpart, '' The Daily News'', as well as the Melbourne television station of Channel 7,

HSV-7 HSV is a television station in Melbourne, Australia. It is part of the Seven Network, one of the three main commercial television networks in Australia, its first and oldest station. It launched in time for the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melbou ...

. Murdoch in turn acquired ''Queensland Press'' in January 1987 via his family company Cruden Investments for $ 700 million.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herald And Weekly Times Ltd Organisations based in Melbourne News Corp Australia Publishing companies established in 1990 Newspaper companies of Australia 1990 establishments in Australia

Newspapers

See also

References