Independent Newspapers Limited (INL) was a newspaper publisher in New Zealand. Started as the Wellington Publishing Company in 1906 to publish The Dominion, it began taking over other newspapers in the 1970s and was renamed Independent Newspapers in 1972. It accumulated more than 80 publications before selling them all to Fairfax in 2003. INL then merged into Sky Network Television in 2005. INL was part-owned by News Limited since early in 1964, when Rupert Murdoch made his first overseas newspaper investment – a 29.57 percent stake in the Wellington Publishing Company. The News Limited holding in INL fluctuated over the years and was just over 49 percent in 1997.
History
Origins
The company sprang out of the Wellington Publishing Company Limited that had been founded in 1906 to publish Wellington's morning daily, The Dominion. In 1970 Wellington Publishing Company made a successful takeover bid for Truth (NZ) Ltd and the following year acquired Independent Publishers Ltd, owner of the Waikato Times. In 1972 it took over Blundell Bros Limited, publisher of Wellington's Evening Post which had started in 1865.
Later in 1972 the company changed its name to Independent Newspapers Limited.