We’ve taken you through the ins and outs of over 300 companies globally over the past two years. That’s almost one company every one or two working days – rain or shine.
But there is one company that we have not talked about all this time. And that is the company behind our radio station MONEY FM 89.3. Yes I am talking about the Singapore Press Holdings or more specifically what’s now known as SPH Media.
With its legacy tracing back to the years 1845 and 1923 with the first runs of the English daily The Straits Times and the predecessor of Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao, SPH Media is a leading media group with operations in publishing print and digital newspapers, magazines and books.
The firm started out as SPH Limited in August 1984 where it brought together newspaper brands from two companies, namely The Straits Times Press Group (STP) and the Singapore News and Publications Limited (SNPL), as well as two other publishing, production and distribution companies called Times Publishing Bhd (TP) and Singapore Newspaper Services Pte Ltd (SNS).
At that point, the company published seven newspapers in three languages – The Straits Times, Berita Harian, The Business Times, Lianhe Zaobao, Lianhe Wanbao, Shin Min Daily News and the Singapore Monitor.
The mission is to be the trusted source of news on Singapore and Asia and to represent the communities that make up Singapore and to connect them to the world.
Over four decades have passed since and the business has now expanded to also own and operate radio stations and outdoor media, including MONEY FM 89.3.
SPH Limited also underwent a restructuring of the media business, with SPH Media taking over SPH Limited’s entire media related business and operating as a public company limited by guarantee.
But why are we speaking to SPH Media you might ask? Well, we want to find out how SPH Media is preparing for the future as media companies around the world transform their century old business models in a digital world.
We also want to talk about the rise in news consumption through social media platforms and what that means for traditional media. Also on the agenda – how the rise in social media usage changes the way mainstream media outlets create, promote and distribute their news stories.
On Under the Radar, Money Matters’ finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Chan Yeng Kit, CEO, SPH Media.
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