improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article s factual accuracy may be compromised due to out of date information . please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . december 2009 this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message torstar corporation type public traded as tsx ts.b industry mass media founded 1958 headquarters toronto ontario canada key people david holland president number of employees 7 000 2012 1 website www.torstar.com one yonge street the torstar headquarters torstar corporation is a canadian media and publishing company . the company is primarily a publisher of daily and community papers including its flagship and namesake the toronto star . contents 1 history 2 operations 2.1 star media group 2.2 metroland media group 2.3 verticalscope 3 other investments 3.1 past investments 4 corporate governance 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit torstar was founded after the ontario government passed a law barring the provisions of late toronto star owner joseph atkinson s will from being enacted . atkinson had bequeathed the newspaper to a charitable organization he had founded . the progressive conservative provincial government of george drew passed a law banning charitable organizations from operating profitable entities such as newspapers . rather than sell the newspaper the trustees of the atkinson foundation bought out the star privately and founded torstar as a private corporation . citation needed 2 on november 26 2010 it was announced that the canadian press news agency would be taken over by a for profit corporation with torstar serving as one of its investors . 3 in december 2011 torstar acquired a 25 % minority stake in specialty television channel owner blue ant media . 4 operations edit torstar s media operations are divided into three primary divisions star media group metroland media group and digital ventures verticalscope star media group edit the star media group division primarily comprises the toronto star and its associated properties torstar syndication services the commuter paper metro in toronto vancouver ottawa calgary edmonton winnipeg and halifax . the division also owns a stake in the canadian edition of the chinese language sing tao daily . metroland media group edit the metroland media group division owns two daily newspapers the hamilton spectator and the waterloo region record as well as more than 100 community papers and other community oriented properties . verticalscope edit on july 29 2015 torstar announced its acquisition of a 56 % majority stake in verticalscope a toronto based operator of online communities for 200 million . the company operates websites and message boards that focus on niche categories particularly within the automotive industry . torstar ceo david holland explained that the purchase was designed to bolster the company s presence in digital media . 5 other investments edit torstar owns a 20 % stake in the victoria british columbia based newspaper publisher black press . 6 past investments edit torstar launched a weekly celebrity based magazine called scoop in 2005 which folded one year later . though newspapers have been accused of missing the internet revolution in the early 1990s torstar became a pioneering investor in the early internet via its purchase of shares in jci technologies which created jobmatch automatch and realtymatch an mls search service . in 1995 jci was selected to be one of the first content providers selected for microsoft s msn network prior to msn s launch in the mid 1990s . by early 1996 jci potentially had a dominant position in canada s on line classified ads with southam also taking a stake in the company . shortly after conrad black s hollinger took over of southam financing for jci was pulled and the investment failed just prior to the internet boom of the late 1990s . citation needed between late 2005 and early 2011 torstar also held a 20 % stake in ctvglobemedia a canadian media company which broke up when bce inc. the parent company of bell canada purchased the company s media assets . 7 this caused some controversy because ctvgm owned the globe and mail a competing newspaper to torstar s own toronto star . there were no editorial hurdles between the two newspapers however . torstar announced in september 2010 it had entered into agreements to sell its shares . the sale was completed in 2011 . citation needed on may 2 2014 torstar announced the sale of harlequin enterprises a publisher of romance novels to harpercollins for 415 million . 8 9 corporate governance edit current members of the board of directors of torstar are john honderich chairman elaine b. berger joan t. dea campbell harvey david p. holland linda hughes daniel j. jauernig alnasir samji dorothy strachan martin e. thall paul r. weiss see also edit toronto portal companies portal journalism portal postmedia network quebecor media the woodbridge company grant v. torstar corp. references edit company profile for torstar corp ca ; ts.b . retrieved 2008 10 09 . atkinson principles torstar corporation . torstar.com 2011 12 16 . retrieved on 2013 08 17 . dana flavelle 2010 11 26 . major publishers invest in canada s oldest news agency . toronto star . retrieved 2015 11 25 . torstar acquires 25 per cent stake in blue ant media . toronto star . retrieved 31 july 2015 . struggling torstar wagers 200 million on a niche digital company . the globe and mail . 29 july 2015 . retrieved 31 july 2015 . is spinoff in the cards . financial post . retrieved 31 july 2015 . kiladze tim 13 september 2010 . torstar walks away from bce ctv smiling . the globe and mail . retrieved 6 september 2012 . news corp. to buy harlequin for 415m . abc news . may 2 2014 . retrieved may 2 2014 . greenfield jeremy greenfield may 2 2014 . news corp acquires harlequin adds to harpercollins portfolio . digital book world . external links edit torstar corporate webpage v t e torstar star media group toronto star torstar syndication services torstar media group television shoptv canada workopolis part owner sing tao daily canada part owner metro part owner defunct titles star weekly eye weekly the grid metroland media group the hamilton spectator waterloo region record guelph mercury etobicoke guardian north york mirror scarborough mirror york guardian the brampton guardian brock citizen kawartha lakes this week peterborough this week the mississauga news barrie advance markham economist and sun burlington post oakville beaver guelph tribune cambridge times grand river sachem other canadian press enterprises inc. part owner black press 19.35 % retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title torstar & oldid 741474708 categories companies listed on the toronto stock exchangenewspaper companies of canadacompanies based in torontotorstar publicationstorstarhidden categories articles with obsolete information from december 2009all wikipedia articles in need of updatingarticles needing additional references from september 2012all articles needing additional referencesall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from october 2008articles with unsourced statements from july 2015 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 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