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Acquisition closed

News Corp acquires The Times (1981)

News Corp completed the acquisition of The Times on 13 February 1981.[1]

News International, the British arm of Rupert Murdoch's group and now News UK, bought The Times and The Sunday Times from the Thomson Organisation after a year in which industrial disputes had suspended publication. Newspaper transfers needed the Secretary of State for Trade's consent under the Fair Trading Act 1973, and the consent came with binding conditions that still shape how the two titles are run.

Deal facts

Announced
Closed
Value
Undisclosed
Buyer
News Corp
Seller
—
Assets
The Times
Regulatory review
Secretary of State Transfer of The Times and The Sunday Times to News International (Fair Trading Act 1973, s.58) (Cleared with remedies, 27 January 1981); Secretary of State Variation of the 1981 conditions relating to The Times and The Sunday Times (Remedies varied, 23 July 2019)

Ownership changes recorded from this deal

OwnerOwnedRelationshipStakeFromTo
News CorpThe Timesowns100%1981-02-13present

Who owns The Times today?

Regulatory review

United Kingdom Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport — Transfer of The Times and The Sunday Times to News International (Fair Trading Act 1973, s.58)

Cleared with remedies

The Secretary of State for Trade consented to the transfer of The Times and The Sunday Times to News International without asking the Monopolies and Mergers Commission to report, on the basis that both papers were in financial difficulty. The consent carried conditions designed to protect the public interest in accurate reporting and free expression: the two titles were to remain separate, with separate editors, and independent national directors were written into the holding company's articles. Those 1981 conditions bound the papers for the next thirty-eight years.

  • behavioural: The Times — The Times and The Sunday Times to continue as separate titles under separate editors, with ultimate control of each title's resources kept apart.
  • behavioural: The Times — Times Newspapers Holdings articles amended to give six independent national directors a role in protecting editorial independence.

United Kingdom Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport — Variation of the 1981 conditions relating to The Times and The Sunday Times

Remedies varied

News UK applied in January 2019 to replace the 1981 conditions, arguing that the requirement to keep each title's journalistic resources entirely separate no longer made sense in a shrinking newspaper market. After two rounds of consultation the Secretary of State accepted undertakings on 23 July 2019 allowing the two papers to share journalists where both editors agree, while keeping the separate editors and the independent national directors. It is one of the few places in this dataset where a remedy imposed on a 1981 acquisition was still being renegotiated four decades later.

  • behavioural: The Times — Undertakings replacing the 1981 conditions: the titles may share journalists where both editors agree, with the separate-editor and independent-director protections retained.

Sources (1) & corrections

Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.

  1. [1] News Corp UK and Ireland Limited - invitation to comment on a request to vary the 1981 conditions — Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Regulator decision, published 18 January 2019; retrieved 16 September 2026.

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