The Hearst family controls Hearst Communications, the media company founded by William Randolph Hearst.
William Randolph Hearst entered newspaper publishing after receiving the San Francisco Examiner from his father in 1887. He built a national newspaper empire and later expanded into magazines, radio and other media.
Hearst Communications remains a privately held, diversified company. Its businesses include newspapers, magazines, television stations, data services and health-care information. The company also owns a major stake in the cable network ESPN through its joint venture with The Walt Disney Company.
Hearst is sometimes confused with the Murdoch family’s News Corp because both families built international media groups. Their companies have different origins: Hearst began with newspapers in California, while Murdoch’s modern empire developed from Australian newspaper ownership.