Hearst CEO Is On the Lookout for Deals to Give Its TV Businesses More Scale

At a transformative moment for the media industry, Hearst is looking into potential dealmaking to help its TV businesses, which include dozens of local TV stations and a 50 percent stake in A+E Global Media, better compete with tech giants.

Hearst CEO Steve Swartz sent his annual letter to employees Tuesday, outlining the status of the business over the last year and its expectations for 2026. In his memo, Swartz noted how the company’s B2B businesses, like the bond rating agency Fitch, aviation data and software company CAMP Systems, and hospital software provider QGenda, helped the company beat its expectations last year.

But he also took time to note the disruption that generative artificial intelligence is bringing to its consumer and B2B businesses, and how consolidation is transforming the TV business.

“The return of the election cycle in the U.S. along with having the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics on our NBC-affiliated stations should help produce a strong year for Hearst Television,” Swartz wrote. “That said we are watching carefully as the television world moves toward greater consolidation, as the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery illustrates.”

“At a time when even Netflix doesn’t feel itself big enough without further acquisition, we are on the lookout for ways we can give our outstanding leadership teams at our stations and at A+E Global Media the scale they need to compete in a world of YouTube, Amazon, Apple and Netflix,” he added, suggesting that the company is open to deals, though whether that means bolt-on acquisitions like other local TV stations or cable channels, or a sale or spin of the TV businesses to help them grow themselves, is not entirely clear.

A+E began exploring strategic options last summer, hiring Wells Fargo to help it game out the market. it is not clear if anything has come of those talks.

Among Hearst’s station portfolio are affiliates in Baltimore, New Orleans, Orlando, Tampa, Kansas City and Boston.

Hearst’s TV business is also deeply intertwined with that of The Walt Disney Co., which owns the other half of A+E, and is the controlling owner of ESPN, in which Hearst now owns 18 percent with the NFL owning 10 percent. Fifteen of Hearst’s stations are also ABC affiliates.

“We simply couldn’t have a better partner, and we want to thank Bob Iger for his extraordinary leadership over the past almost 20 years, and to welcome and congratulate Disney’s next leadership team, CEO Josh D’Amaro and President Dana Walden,” Swartz wrote to staff.

Swartz also said that “the most challenging business we are in” right now is the magazine business, as generative AI and search traffic declines hit its brands like Esquire, Good Housekeeping and Cosmopolitan hard.

“We are making a significant investment in our magazine company this year to aggressively exploit what we have going for us above all others: great brands and journalists covering subjects readers and viewers are super passionate about, such as food, fashion, cars, home and health,” he wrote. “We’ll use all the digital tools in our tool kit to daily connect our experts and their content with our audience. This means more Instagram and TikTok videos from our staffers, more daily newsletters from our editors and writers, and more podcasts and YouTube videos.”

So how will Hearst ride the AI wave? That is less clear, though Swartz says the company will be pushing its employees to learn about the tech to get up to speed as quickly as possible

“Using generative AI to make processes faster and cheaper is not as easy as some make it sound. The technology changes at a bewildering speed, making it hard for even our most diligent experts to keep up,” the CEO wrote. “And yes, there is the fear that generative AI will lead to significant job losses. We can’t promise that no jobs will disappear, but we are in the camp of believing that new jobs and new businesses will be created at our company, as has always been the case with technological change.”

“We are committed to boosting the frequency and volume of training classes, and we urge all of you to engage and make every effort to master these tools with the help of our expert colleagues,” he added. “That is truly the best way to ensure that you have exciting options wherever this technological revolution takes us in the years to come.”