Singapore Press Holdings
Singapore Press Holdings Limited is a media organisation in Singapore with businesses in print, digital, radio, and outdoor media, and property and aged care. SPH has over 4,000 employees, including a team of approximately 1,000 journalists, including correspondents operating around the world. The company was one of the country's "blue-chip" counters on the Singapore Exchange, and was a constituent of the Straits Times Index until its removal on 22 June 2020.
History
Singapore Press Holdings Limited was formed on 4 August 1984 through a merger of three organisations, The Straits Times Press Group, Singapore News and Publications Limited and Times Publishing Berhad.In 2009, SPH celebrated its 25th anniversary and for the first time, changed its corporate logo. The new logo was launched on 30 March 2009 by former President S. R. Nathan and chairman Tony Tan Keng Yam.
Ownership
Like all newspaper companies in Singapore, SPH is regulated by the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act of 1974 and issues both management and ordinary shares. As specified by the NPPA, all issues and transfers of management shares have to be approved by the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, and in "any resolution relating to the appointment or dismissal of a director or any member of the staff" the vote of one management share is equivalent to 200 ordinary shares.There are close ties between the directors of SPH and the Singapore Government. S. R. Nathan, Director of the Security and Intelligence Division and later President of Singapore served as SPH's Executive chairman from 1982 to 1988 and the first President of SPH was Tjong Yik Min, former chief of the Internal Security Department. The immediate former Chairman of SPH, Tony Tan was Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore from 1994 to 2005 and President of Singapore from 2011 to 2017.
Dr Lee Boon Yang is the current chairman of Singapore Press Holdings. Former Chief of Defence Force Ng Yat Chung is the current CEO since 1 September 2017.
Owners of ordinary share
99.9% ordinary shares were held by the public. According to the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act:
No person shall, on or after 2nd September 2002, enter into any agreement or arrangement, whether oral or in writing and whether express or implied, to act together with any other person with respect to the acquisition, holding or disposal of, or the exercise of rights in relation to, their interests in voting shares of an aggregate of more than 5% of the total votes attached to all voting shares in a newspaper company without first obtaining the approval of the Minister.
Thus, by ordinary share, there is no controlling shareholder. The current "largest" shareholder by ordinary share is DBS Nominees Pte. Ltd.,. It was followed by the operating unit of Citibank, HSBC, United Overseas Bank and other banks, that provide fiduciary or nominee services. Other private companies and individuals owned less than 1% of the ordinary share each.
Owners of management share
| Name | Number | % of management share | Equivalent of ordinary share | % of total share capital | Equivalent % |
| Great Eastern Life Assurance | 3,698,297 | 22.60% | 739,659,400 | ||
| OCBC Bank | 2,748,829 | 16.80% | 549,765,800 | ||
| NTUC Income | 2,674,219 | 16.35% | 534,843,800 | ||
| Singtel | 2,176,119 | 13.30% | 435,223,800 | ||
| DBS Bank | 1,554,362 | 9.50% | 310,872,400 | ||
| United Overseas Bank | 1,316,578 | 8.05% | 263,315,600 | ||
| National University of Singapore | 876,797 | 5.36% | 175,359,400 | ||
| Nanyang Technological University | 658,260 | 4.02% | 131,652,000 | ||
| Fullerton Limited | 658,260 | 4.02% | 131,652,000 | ||
| CEO | 12 | 0.00% | 2,400 | ||
| Directors excluding CEO | 36 | 0.00% | 7,200 | ||
| Total | 16,361,769 | 100% | 3,272,353,800 | 1.01% | 67.18% |
Newspapers
In Singapore, SPH publishes 17 newspaper titles in four languages.English
- Business Times
- The Business Times Weekend
- The New Paper
- The Straits Times
- The Sunday Times
- tabla! – free English language newspaper for the Indian community; 30,000 copies distributed each Friday at 7-Eleven outlets
Chinese
- Lianhe Wanbao
- Lianhe Zaobao
- Lianhe Zaobao Sunday
- Shin Min Daily News
- Thumbs Up
- Thumbs Up Junior
Malay
- Berita Harian
- Berita Minggu
Tamil
- Tamil Murasu
Magazines
Book publishing
SPH's subsidiary Straits Times Press produces books and periodicals in English and Chinese.Online
Beyond print, the digital editions of SPH newspapers enjoy over 360 million page views with 23 million unique visitors every month. Apart from AsiaOne, SPH's online and new media initiatives include HardwareZone, the largest forum in Singapore; STJobs and STProperty, online portal for jobs and property; and sgCarMart and STClassifieds for cars and general classified ads.Properties
SPH owns retail properties Paragon, The Clementi Mall and The Seletar Mall. SPH's wholly owned subsidiary, Times Development Pte Ltd, has also developed a 43-storey upmarket residential condominium, Sky@eleven, at Thomson Road.SPH REIT
SPH REIT is a Singapore-based REIT established to invest in a portfolio of income-producing real estate primarily for retail purposes. SPH REIT comprises two retail malls, The Paragon and The Clementi Mall. Paragon is a prime retail and office complex in the heart of Orchard Road, Singapore's main shopping belt. The Clementi Mall is a mid-market suburban mall in the centre of Clementi town.Events and outdoor advertising
SPH's events arm Sphere Exhibits organises consumer and trade events and exhibitions as well as large scale conferences in the region. In addition, SPH has ventured into out-of-home advertising through its digital out-of-home platform SPHMBO.Radio
Broadcasting
In the radio business, SPH Radio Pte Ltd, which operates entertainment stations 96.3 Hao FM and UFM 100.3 in Mandarin, as well as Money FM 89.3, Kiss 92FM and One FM 91.3 in English.In March 2017, SPH Radio won a bid offer from the Info-communications Media Development Authority to operate two additional FM frequencies: 89.3 MHz and the former MediaCorp-owned 96.3 MHz. SPH is planning to launch two new stations on the said frequencies, including a Mandarin-language infotainment station, and an English-language business station.
Other businesses
Television
On 8 June 2000, SPH MediaWorks was set up with the aim of breaking into the broadcasting business, and received Singapore's second nationwide free-to-air terrestrial television broadcasting service licence on 26 April 2001. SPH soon afterwards launched two channels, Channel U on 6 May 2001 and TVWorks on 20 May 2001. On 3 March 2002, TV Works is renamed to Channel i with a new programming belt.On 31 December 2004, SPH sold its television operation to Mediacorp, restoring Mediacorp's former monopoly status. Channel i was shut down on 1 January 2005, but Channel U continues to operate. Through a merger, SPH retains a 20% stake in Mediacorp's television operational, as well as 40% stake in Today newspaper.
On 29 September 2017, SPH completed its sale of its stakes in Mediacorp's television operational, and Today. Mediacorp Press and Mediacorp TV Holdings ceased to be associated companies of SPH.