National Geographic Partners is a new venture set up by National Geographic and 21st Century Fox and will combine the National Geographic television channels with National Geographic’s other media and consumer-oriented assets, including: National Geographic magazines; National Geographic Studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children’s media; and ancillary activities, including travel, location-based entertainment, archival sales, catalog, licensing and ecommerce businesses. Combining these assets into one organization will create greater opportunities to pursue National Geographic’s mission of increasing knowledge through science, exploration and research.
‘The National Geographic Society and 21st Century Fox announced today that they have reached an agreement to expand their highly successful 18-year partnership through which they have owned and operated the properties in National Geographic Channels, a joint venture of domestic and international cable television channels which together reach more than 500 million households globally.’
The National Geographic Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focused on its mission of science, exploration and education. Consideration for the transaction is valued at $725 million. As a result, the Society’s endowment will significantly increase to nearly $1 billion. The new entity will be owned 73 percent by 21st Century Fox and 27 percent by The National Geographic Society with a shared governance structure and equal representation on the board of directors. The Board Chair will alternate annually, with Gary Knell, National Geographic Society President and CEO, serving as the Board’s first Chairman.
James Murdoch, CEO of 21st Century Fox, said: “We are privileged to have the opportunity to expand our partnership to continue to bring to audiences around the world, ‘The world and all that is in it,’ as National Geographic Society’s second president Alexander Graham Bell stated more than a century ago. We believe in the Society’s mission of bringing the world to audiences through science, education and exploration.”