type private industry publishing founded 1905 1905 founder david coupar thomson headquarters 2 albert square dundee dd1 9qj scotland key people andrew thomson chairman products sunday post the evening telegraph my weekly jackie shout the beano the dandy commando see also list of dc thomson publications revenue 252m 2012 operating income 23.7 m 2012 number of employees 1 900 2013 subsidiaries brightsolid findmypast my family club parragon puzzler media website www.dcthomson.co.uk dc thomson is a british publishing and television production company best known for producing the dundee courier the evening telegraph the sunday post oor wullie the broons the beano the dandy and commando comics . it also owns parragon and the aberdeen journals group which publishes the press and journal . it was a significant shareholder in the former itv company southern television . through its subsidiary dc thomson family history the company owns several websites including friends reunited 1 and findmypast . based in dundee scotland the company also owns children books publisher parragon . contents 1 history 2 publications 3 subsidiaries 3.1 brightsolid 3.2 findmypast 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit dundee headquarters of dc thomson & co. the company began as a branch of the thomson family business when william thomson became the sole proprietor of charles alexander & company publishers of dundee courier and daily argus . in 1884 david coupar thomson took over the publishing business and established it as d.c. thomson in 1905 . the firm flourished and took its place as the third j in the three js the traditional summary of dundee industry jam jute and journalism . 2 thomson was notable for his conservatism vigorously opposing the introduction of trade unions into his workforce and for refusing to employ catholics . 3 among historians of popular culture the firm has excited a good deal of interest precisely because it has always shrouded its activities in secrecy ... it has never allowed scholars access to its archives and has declined to participate in exhibitions of juvenile literature . 4 the company produces more than 200 million comics magazines and newspapers every year from offices in dundee glasgow manchester and london . in june 2010 350 jobs at dc thomson were made redundant with the closure of the west ward printworks in dundee along with a section of the kingsway print plant . although the principal offices are now located outside dundee city centre at kingsway the courier building at meadowside has been retained as the company headquarters . this 1902 building was designed to resemble an american red stone steel reinforced office block . when a tower extension was added in 1960 the architect t lindsay grey kept the same style . in 2009 dc thomson acquired the magazine company this england publishing which included this england magazine and evergreen quarterly magazine . there were nine job losses in 2013 with the editorial team remaining but relocating in cheltenham . in the same year dc thomson acquired the friends reunited website from itv for gb 25.6 m but by 2011was valued at gb 5.2 m. 5 as of december 2013 the company employed around 1 900 workers . 6 publications edit for a complete list see list of d. c. thomson & co. ltd publications . d.c. thomson publications include sunday post the courier the evening telegraph my weekly the scots magazine the beano the dandy commando jackie shout bunty animals and you subsidiaries edit brightsolid edit brightsolid is a data centre and cloud based hosting company based in dundee . it was established in 1995 as scotland online and in 2008 became brightsolid organised into two companies brightsolid online publishing bsop and brightsolid online technology bsot . brightsolid online publishing bsop was subsequently renamed dc thomson family history in october 2013 . 7 findmypast edit the findmypast group formerly dc thomson family history owns a variety of large genealogy sites worldwide including findmypast genes reunited mocavo and friends reunited . 8 following the split of brightsolid in 2013 annelies van den belt was appointed chief executive . 9 the company has contracts to digitise archives for the imperial war museum and the british library where it is making the british newspaper archive searchable . see also edit companies portal children s literature portal comics portal list of d. c. thomson & co. ltd publications british comics references edit brightsolid acquires friends reunited . brightsolid.com . retrieved 2011 02 06 . victorian dundee jute jam & journalism . scottish history . bbc . retrieved 2007 10 02 . gazetteer for scotland david couper thomson . mackenzie john m. 1984 . propaganda and empire the manipulation of british public opinion 1880 1960 . manchester and new york manchester university press . p. 219 . isbn 0719018692 . dc thomson s friends reunited continues fall in value . bbc news . 11 december 2011 . retrieved 13 august 2014 . publisher dc thomson reports fall in profits . bbc news . 31 december 2013 . retrieved 13 august 2014 . the future for family history is digital . dc thomson family history . 1 october 2013 . retrieved 13 august 2014 . shake up at online firm brightsolid . bbc news . 30 august 2013 . retrieved 13 august 2014 . digital media executive annelies van den belt joins in brightsolid reorganisation . the courier . 30 august 2013 . retrieved 13 august 2014 . external links edit official website v t e dc thomson newspapers the courier evening telegraph the sunday post aberdeen journals the press and journal evening express aberdeen citizen magazines animals and you the beano beanomax classics from the comics commando my weekly the official jacqueline wilson mag the people s friend the scots magazine shout this england the weekly news wwe kids notable former publications bunty the beezer the dandy fun size comics the hotspur jackie nutty the people s journal sparky the topper the victor books parragon peter haddock other brightsolid british newspaper archive findmypast friends reunited genes reunited puzzler v t e dc thomson comics currently running comics the beano beanomax commando fun section in the sunday post adventure comics adventure bullet buddy champ commando the crunch the hornet the hotspur the rover the skipper spike starblazer the vanguard the victor warlord the wizard girls comics bunty judy mandy nikki humour comics the beano beanomax the beezer buzz classics from the comics cracker the dandy fun size comics hoot the magic comic nutty plug sparky the topper pre school comics bimbo the magic comic twinkle notable strips alf tupper baby crockett bananaman the bash street kids beryl the peril black bob biffo the bear big eggo the broons calamity james cuddles and dimples dennis the menace desperate dan ginger gnasher ivy the terrible jonah keyhole kate korky the cat little plum lord snooty matt braddock mickey the monkey minnie the minx the numskulls pansy potter roger the dodger tricky dicky oor wullie willy nilly winker watson wilson the wonder athlete wolf of kabul comic annuals the beano annual the beezer book the bimbo book the dandy annual the hotspur book for boys the sparky book the topper book the victor book for boys warlord book for boys character annuals bananaman annual the bash street kids annual beryl the peril annual black bob book the broons annual dennis the menace annual the desperate dan book oor wullie annual notable artists barrie appleby nigel auchterlounie leo baxendale gordon bell nick brennan paddy brennan sid burgon reg carter wilbur dawbarn karl dixon the etherington brothers hunt emerson andy fanton john geering barry glennard charles grigg ken h. harrison laura howell diego jourdan malcolm judge david law alexander matthews trevor metcalfe allan morley david mostyn vic neill robert nixon gary northfield nigel parkinson tom paterson jim petrie ken reid bill ritchie david parkins jon rushby jamie smart lew stringer david sutherland kev f. sutherland dudley d. watkins stevie white notable writers mike chinn alan grant ian gray gilbert lawford dalton r. d. low grant morrison tom morton john radford john smith cavan scott see also beanotown racing list of d. c. thomson & co. ltd publications list of fleetway and ipc comics publications list of beano comic strips list of dandy comic strips list of beezer comic strips list of beezer and topper comic strips v t e the beano current strips ball boy bananaman the bash street kids beaginnings biffo the bear billy whizz calamity james dennis the menace gnipper les pretend little plum lord snooty minnie the minx number 13 beano street the numskulls pansy potter pup parade rasher roger the dodger tom dick and sally tricky dicky notable former strips baby face finlayson the bash street kids singled out beaginnings the belles of st. lemons big eggo billy the cat colin the vet colonel crackpot s circus crazy for daisy danny s nanny derek the sheep fatty fudge freddie fear fred s bed general jumbo gnasher s bit e gnasher s tale gnash gnews gordon bennett grandpa hairy dan helpful henry the germs ivy the terrible jack flash jimmy and his magic patch joe jitsu joe king johnny bean from happy bunny green jonah lord snooty the third the magic lollipops maxy s taxi the mctickles meebo and zuky morgyn the mighty the nibblers nicky nutjob olaff the madlander ping the elastic man pirates of the caribeano ratz robbie rebel richard the lion simply smiffy smudge splodge super school the three bears tim traveller tin can tommy winston wee ben nevis wee peem the yeti with betty zap zodiac supporting characters bea gnasher gnipper soppy susan walter the softy foo foo see also the beano timeline bash street school beanotown the beano annual beano comic libraries beanomax the beano summer special list of beano comic strips list of beano comic strips by annual beanotown racing dennis the menace annual the magic comic fun size beano retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title dc thomson & oldid 741579170 categories dc thomson comics1905 establishments in scotlandpublishing companies established in 1905companies based in dundeecomic book publishing companies of scotlandmagazine publishing companies of scotlandmedia companies of scotlandnewspaper companies of scotlandbook publishing companies of scotlandmedia in dundee navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages espa olfran aisscots edit links this page was last modified on 28 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