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overview
holdings
chronology
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overview
This profile considers UBM, formerly United News &
Media.
It covers -
introduction
UK-based United Business Media (UBM),
formerly United News & Media, gains around 75% of its
revenue from the US.
It embraces directories and technical magazines such as
Barbour Index and InformationWeek, PR
services and specialist advertising publications.
It formerly included major UK metropolitan and regional
newspaper holdings, opinion polling and business surveys
(NOP, Roper Starch), merchant banking and commercial television
holdings.
the group
The group's history is outlined here.
During the 1914-18 War opponents of Prime Minister Lloyd
George formed the United Newspaper group, bringing together
papers in the south and north of England. Following the
death of newspaper buccaneer Lord Beaverbrook
his Express Group was absorbed by property and shipping
conglomerate Trafalgar House.
Trafalgar subsequently spun off its media interests into
Fleet Holdings, which was acquired by United (having taken
over further papers in northern England such as the Yorkshire
Post). United then merged with television, merchant
banking, opinion polls and newspaper conglomerate MAI.
The new group - United News & Media - increased its
television holdings, bought and sold magazines, sold its
provincial newspaper holdings and spun off its finance
arm.
Moves to merge with Carlton
and with Granada were unsuccessful.
It sold its remaining newspapers (the Daily Express
and Sunday Express went to Britain's leading publisher
of soft-core porn), along with its television interests
to Granada, further magazines and its Miller Freeman exhibition
unit.
In 2005 it sold its NOP World market research business
to GfK Aktiengesellschaft for £383 million. In July of
that year it announced the sale of its 35% stake in UK
Channel Five Television to RTL for
£247m
studies
For studies of the Express see works cited in the
Beaverbrook profile, such
as The Fall of the House of Beaverbrook (London:
Deutsch 1979) by Lewis Chester & Jonathan Fenby and
The Rise & Fall of Communication Empires (PDF)
by Robert Picard. The early history of Provincial Newspapers
and United Newspapers features in Stephen Koss's The
Rise & Fall of the Political Press in Britain (London:
Hamish Hamilton 1984).
For Trafalgar House see Nigel Broackes' self-congratulatory
A Growing Concern : An Autobiography (London: Weidenfeld
& Nicolson 1979). MAI features in volume 5 of David Kynaston's
The City of London (London: Chatto & Windus 2001).
For a somewhat conspiracist account of Carlyle see Dan
Briody's The Iron Triangle: Inside the Secret World
of the Carlyle Group (New York: Wiley 2003).
Other resources are highlighted in the Fleet
Street profile on this site.
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