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DallasNews Corporation, formerly A. H. Belo Corporation (/ˈbl/), is a Dallas, Texas-based media holding company of The Dallas Morning News and Belo + Company. The current corporation was formed when Belo Corporation separated its broadcasting and publishing operations into two corporations (with the broadcasting division going to the "old" Belo; it was later purchased by Gannett, and its former assets are part of what is now Tegna). A. H. Belo also owns a part interest in Classified Ventures. The CEO of the company is James Moroney III and the company had its headquarters in the Belo Building in Downtown Dallas.[2] In 2016, the company announced that it is planning to leave the Belo Building for The Statler Library, also located downtown.[3] As of 2018, the company website lists 1954 Commerce Street in Dallas as their headquarters address.[4]

The company changed its name and ticker symbol and moved from the New York Stock Exchange to the Nasdaq on June 29, 2021, after acknowledging the history tied to their founder, A. H. Belo, a colonel in the Confederate military during the American Civil War, especially given that the company has its origins as early as 1842. The change was proposed in 2021 by CEO Robert W. Decherd to embrace "the social justice movement underway in America." The name change was approved by company shareholders the same year, with 99% of votes cast.[5]

The company was organized as a fully owned subsidiary of Belo Corporation on October 1, 2007, then taken public by issuing the new stock to Belo shareholders and starting trade on February 8, 2008. The split was structured so that Belo Corporation was the legal successor of the original company. While technically this corporate entity was formed in 2008, the organization traces its roots and history back to 1842. The Belo Corporation used the A. H. Belo name from 1926 to 2002 when it was shortened to simply Belo.

Newspapers

The company also formerly published the Denton Record-Chronicle, The Providence Journal, the Riverside Press-Enterprise, Quick, a free weekly in Dallas, and The Business Press, a weekly business publication in Riverside.

For decades, News-Texan, Inc., an A.H. Belo subsidiary, was the owner of The Dallas Morning News as well as other newspapers in the suburban Dallas area. Belo acquired seven newspapers in 1963, which included The Garland Daily News, The Grand Prairie Daily News, and The Richardson Daily News. The newspaper group would become Dallas-Fort Worth Suburban Newspapers, Inc.[6] Belo executives specifically shifted the newspapers to afternoon delivery to compete with The Dallas Times-Herald, the rival of the chain's flagship The Dallas Morning News, according to Judith Garrett Segura, author of Belo: From Newspapers to New Media. She claims the newspapers were not profitable for roughly two years.[6] These newspapers would operate and be published relatively independently until the late 1980s. Under increased advertising pressures and laws prohibiting media monopolies in urban markets, the newspapers were ultimately absorbed into The Dallas Morning News.

References

  1. ^ "A.H. Belo Corporation Form 10K". United States Securities and Exchange Commission. March 11, 2021. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  2. ^ "Contact Us Archived February 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine." A. H. Belo. Retrieved on November 21, 2009.
  3. ^ "The Dallas Morning News plans move after 67 years - Talking New MediaTalking New Media | The digital publishing website". www.talkingnewmedia.com. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  4. ^ " About A. H. Belo | Contact Us Archived February 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine", A. H. Belo Corporation. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
  5. ^ Halkias, Maria (13 May 2021). "Dallas Morning News parent company's name change gains shareholder approval". The Dallas Morning News. ISSN 1553-846X. LCCN sn83045278. OCLC 1151529364. Archived from the original on 10 February 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2022. Shareholders of the parent company of The Dallas Morning News on Thursday voted to change the corporate name from A. H. Belo Corp. to DallasNews Corp. The change was proposed earlier this year by Robert W. Decherd, the company's chairman, president and CEO, to embrace "the social justice movement underway in America." Company founder A. H. Belo was a colonel in the Confederate Army before buying the newspaper that traces its roots to 1842.
  6. ^ a b "History of A.H. Belo Corporation – FundingUniverse". www.fundinguniverse.com.

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