[3][4][5][6][7] Formerly incorporated in Adelaide, South Australia, the company was re-incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law after a majority of shareholders approved the move on November 12, 2004.

News Limited was founded in 1923 in Adelaide by James Edward Davidson, funded by the Collins House mining empire for the purpose of publishing anti-union propaganda;[9][10] subsequently the controlling interest was bought by the Herald & Weekly Times.

[12] In 1984, News Corp acquired the Chicago Sun-Times from Field Enterprises (later sold in 1986 to the American Publishing Company subsidiary of Canada-based Hollinger) for $90 million and Travel Weekly and other trade magazines from Ziff Davis.

[24] A number of senior Australian media moguls were brought into Murdoch's powerhouse, including John Dux, who was managing director of the South China Morning Post.

The move of News International's London operation to Wapping in the East End resulted in nightly battles outside the new plant.

[27][28][29] In 1988, News Corp acquired the Philadelphia-based Triangle Publications, publisher of the magazines TV Guide, Seventeen, and the Daily Racing Form for $3 billion.

In 1993, News Corp acquired a 63.6% stake of the Hong Kong-based STAR TV satellite network from Pearson for over $500 million, followed by the purchase of the remaining 36.4% in July 1995.

[32][33] Murdoch declared that:[34] (Telecommunications) have proved an unambiguous threat to totalitarian regimes everywhere ... satellite broadcasting makes it possible for information-hungry residents of many closed societies to bypass state-controlled television channels.In 1995, the Fox network became the object of scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) when it was alleged that its Australian base made Murdoch's ownership of Fox illegal.

In the same year, News Corp launched the Foxtel pay television network in Australia in a partnership with Telstra and Publishing & Broadcasting Limited.

[38][39] In late 2003, News Corp acquired a 34% stake in Hughes Electronics (now DirecTV Group), operator of the largest American satellite TV system, from General Motors for US$6 billion.

[46] In February 2007, Murdoch announced at the McGraw-Hill Media Summit that the Fox Entertainment Group would launch a new business news channel later in the year, which would compete directly against rival network CNBC.

"[48] In July 2007, News Corp. reached a deal to acquire Dow Jones & Company, owners of The Wall Street Journal, for $5 billion.

[54] In November 2010, News Corp purchased education technology and student progress tracking company Wireless Generation for $360 million.

[56] Losses from the last quarter of 2010 were $156 million, over double of the previous year, which dragged down the otherwise strong results of parent News Corp. Its struggles were attributed to the growth of the competing social network Facebook.

[61] On July 13, 2011, Rupert Murdoch announced that the company would withdraw its takeover bid for BSkyB due to concerns relating to the News of the World scandal.

[67] On February 4, 2013, News Corporation announced the sale of IGN and its related properties to the publishing company Ziff Davis.

The allegations include trying to access former Prime Minister Gordon Brown's voice mail, and obtain information from his bank accounts, family's medical records, and private legal files.

[70] Other allegations put out by The Guardian newspaper include the exploitation, with intent to gain access to or use private information, of a list of 4,332 names or partial names, 2,987 mobile phone numbers, 30 audio tapes of varying length and 91 PIN codes, of a kind required to access the voicemail of the minority of targets who change the factory settings on their mobile phones.

[71] On July 13, 2011, News Corp withdrew its bid to purchase the final 61% stake in BSkyB after pressure from both the Labour and Conservative Parties in Parliament.

Senator John Rockefeller (D-WV) stated on July 12, 2011, that there should be a government investigation into News Corporation "to ensure that Americans have not had their privacy violated.

"[76] In 2012, following a BBC Panorama report, allegations were made that News Corp subsidiary NDS Group had used hackers to undermine pay TV rivals around the world.

NDS had originally been set up to provide security to News Corp's pay TV interests but emails obtained by Fairfax Media revealed they had also pursued a wider agenda by distributing the keys to rival set-top box operators and seeking to obtain phone records of suspected rivals.

In 2012, it was also revealed that Australian Federal police were working with UK police to investigate hacking by News Corp.[78] On June 28, 2012, Rupert Murdoch announced that, after concerns from shareholders in response to the recent scandals and to "unlock even greater long-term shareholder value", News Corporation's assets would be split into two publicly traded companies, one oriented towards media, and the other towards publishing.

[96] The event included speeches from Murdoch, Actor and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bono, Al Gore, Senator John McCain and Bill Clinton while Israel's President, Shimon Peres, appeared on a panel named "Islam and the West".

The company's Board of Directors consisted of 17 individuals at the time of its break up: In anticipation of US midterm elections, News Corporation donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association in June 2010.