Who owns the news media?

Warren Buffet’s purchase of 63 newspapers from Media General Company and news Corp’s consideration of splitting the company in two, culminate a period of intense change in U.S. newspaper ownership, with new companies—including hedge funds and private equity firms—taking over.

In 2011, a total of 71 daily newspapers were sold as part of 11 different transactions, the busiest year for sales since 2007, according to the investment banking firm of Dirks, Van Essen & Murray.

The 2012 Who Owns the News Media database, compiled by Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, details these and other news industry ownership changes in 2011 and the first half of 2012. In addition, PEJ provides a summary of major changes.

The newspapers were not the only media sector to undergo major changes. The last 18 months also saw local television sales reach new heights, the merging of Newsweek and the Daily Beast, Comcast’s acquisition of NBC Universal, the Huffington Posts’ movement into web TV and further reach among U.S. broadcast companies into the Hispanic market. 

The 2012 interactive database contains financial statistics on 123 different companies that own U.S. news media outlets, their other investment properties and how they rank compared to other companies that own properties in that sector. The database offers figures on more than 4,000 radio and TV stations, newspapers and news websites.