Singapore Press Holdings Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) Limited was incorporated on 4 August 1984 as a new holding company to effect the merger of Times Publishing Berhad, Straits Times Press (1975) Limited and Singapore News and Publications Limited, all of which became wholly owned subsidiaries of the newly formed SPH. In 1988, Times Publishing Limited became a separate company, and was acquired by the Fraser & Neave group.
SPH has over 1,000 journalists and correspondents in Singapore and 16 overseas bureaux. It publishes 14 newspapers— including major dailies The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao— in English, Chinese and Tamil, giving it a virtual monopoly over newspaper publishing in Singapore.
In addition to its stable of newspapers, the company has a portfolio of some 80 periodicals, including magazines Her World, Citta Bella, Men’s Health, Maxim and Seventeen. In addition, the company also holds a 40 per cent stake in MediaCorp Press Pte Ltd, which publishes the freesheet Today. SPH also owns a 20 per cent share in MediaCorp TV Holdings Pte Ltd, which operates Channels 5, 8, U and TV Mobile. Through a joint venture with NTUC Media, the group operates two radio stations— Chinese station Radio 100.3 FM and English station Radio 91.3 FM (see radio broadcasting). Aside from the media industry, SPH’s interests include stakes in the listed telecommunications companies MobileOne and StarHub, and ownership of the Paragon shopping mall on Orchard Road.
SPH’s Print Centre, on an 11- ha lot in Jurong, delivers more than 1 million copies of SPH newspapers each day, and is also responsible for the regional editions of international newspapers such as Asahi Shimbun, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, The Asian Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune.
SPH reported net earnings of $495 million on a turnover of $1 billion for the financial year 2005.