| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Traded as | TSX: TS.B |
| Industry | Newspaper Communications |
| Founded | 1958 |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Key people | David Holland, President |
| Products | Newspapers |
| Employees | 6,880 (2008)[1] |
| Website | www.torstar.com |
Torstar Corporation (TSX: TS.B) is an independently-owned Canadian broadly based media company that is named after its principal holding, the Toronto Star daily newspaper.
Its core businesses includes publishing daily and community newspapers, speciality publications, digital properties, Syndicate content, as well as women’s fiction.
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Torstar was founded after the Ontario government passed a law barring the provisions of late-Toronto Star owner Joseph Atkinson's will from being enacted. Atkinson had bequeathed the newspaper to a charitable organization he had founded. The Conservative provincial government of George Drew (a critic of the Liberal-oriented Star) passed a law banning charitable organizations from operating profitable entities such as newspapers. Rather than sell the newspaper, the trustees of the Atkinson Foundation bought out the Star privately and founded Torstar as a private corporation.[2]
The principal activities of Torstar are the publication of newspapers and women’s fiction. Torstar operates in two main holding under Newspapers and Book Publishing.
The Newspapers division is the largest component and consists of newspaper, commercial printing and Internet products and services. The company operates 2 main newspaper divisions, Metroland Media Group and the Star Media Group. The second group is Book Publishing which is also known as Harlequin.
The newspaper division is split between two main subsidies: Metroland Media Group and Star Media Group.
Star Media Group is a division of Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd., which is a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. It was created on September 11, 2006 as part of restructuring of the companies assets.
Star Media Group includes the flagship Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper, Torstar Syndication Services a syndication service of content for various publications, Torstar Media Group Television which is a film/video production unit and includes ShopTV Canada, as well as TMG Production and TMG Entertainment.
Metroland Media Group is Torstar's largest division. Metroland consists of daily and community newspapers, printing services, flyer distributing and digital operations. Metroland operates over 130 daily and community publications. Metroland publishes over 100 community newspapers including former CityMedia Group publications. Metroland also has as a number of specialty publications and operates several consumer shows. It also published the alternative newspaper Eye Weekly.
Torstar Digital became the digital arm of Star Media Group on Feb 1, 2005. Torstar Digital also owns toronto.com which averages 8 million page views and 615,000 visitors. In October 2005, Torstar announced a joint venture with LiveDeal.com, a US-based company, to create LiveDeal Canada. LiveDeal Canada is an online classifieds provider that provides Canadians with a cost-effective, easy-to-use and efficient marketplace for buying and selling goods. Torstar digital also looks after all newspaper and publication websites including thestar.com.
Metroland will also manage Torstar’s interest in the jointly owned Sing Tao Daily, the largest Chinese language newspaper in Canada. In March 2005, Torstar, CanWest and Metro International (each holding a 33.3% interest) announced their new joint venture to launch Metro Vancouver (March 14) and Metro Ottawa (March 30) as well as the Toronto edition of Metro, the largest free daily newspaper in Canada.
Transit Television Network, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is the largest out-of-home digital network providing information, entertainment and advertising to transit riders across North America.
Torstar operates Harlequin Enterprises Ltd, a major publisher of women’s fiction romance novels. It offers a variety of women’s fiction genres in many different formats including mass-market paperback, trade paperback, hardcover, in multiple channels such as retail outlets, direct-to consumer, and e-commerce in over 94 international markets.
Torstar recently launched a weekly celebrity-based magazine called Scoop, which folded one year later.
Though newspapers have been accused of missing the internet "revolution", in the early 1990s, Torstar became a pioneering investor in the early internet via its purchase of shares in JCI Technologies which created Jobmatch, Automatch and Realtymatch (an MLS search service). In 1995 JCI was selected to be one of the first content providers selected for Microsoft's MSN network prior to MSN's launch in the mid 1990s. By early 1996, JCI potentially had a dominant position in Canada's on-line classified ads with Southam also taking a stake in the company. Shortly after Conrad Black's Hollinger took over of Southam, financing for JCI was pulled and the investment failed just prior to the internet boom of the late 1990s.
Between late 2005 and early 2011, Torstar also held a 20% stake in CTVglobemedia, a Canadian media company which broke up when Bell Canada purchased the company's media assets. This caused some controversy due to the fact that CTVgm owned The Globe and Mail, a competing newspaper to Torstar's own Toronto Star. There were no editorial hurdles between the two newspapers however.
Current members of the board of directors of Torstar are:
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