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Nonprofit National Geographic magazine will transition to a for-profit later this year, the publication announced Wednesday.
“I hadn’t been expecting this change, but it makes sense,” said Rick Edmonds, a media analyst at Poynter. “While National Geographic’s roots are as a nonprofit, I don’t believe it relies on tax-free grants. It’s viable as a for-profit business and its cable TV presence makes it a natural match for 21st Century Fox.”
Nick Visser reported on the news Wednesday for The Huffington Post.
The change comes as Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox expands its ownership of National Geographic properties to a 73 percent majority stake in a $725 million deal. The National Geographic Society will own the remaining 27 percent as a minority shareholder.
Paul Farhi wrote about the news for The Washington Post and reported that National Geographic’s cable channel will be among other assets in the deal.
Fox will pay $725 million to the Society for its stake in the partnership. This will push the Society’s endowment to more than $1 billion.
The monthly magazine, with its famous yellow-bordered cover, has been owned since its inception by the National Geographic Society of Washington, the educational and scientific organization based in Washington that has been a philanthropic organization from its beginning.
Variety’s Cynthia Littleton reports that National Geographic’s chief media officer Declan Moore will be the new CEO.
“We are privileged to have the opportunity to expand our partnership to continue to bring to audiences around the world, ‘The world and all that is in it,’ as National Geographic Society’s second president Alexander Graham Bell stated more than a century ago. We believe in the Society’s mission of bringing the world to audiences through science, education and exploration,” Fox CEO James Murdoch said in announcing the deal.
Benjamin Mullin contributed reporting.
