Singapore Press Holdings Limited was formed on 4 August 1984 through a merger of three organisations, The Straits Times Press Group, Singapore News and Publications Limited and Times Publishing Berhad.[5]
On 8 June 2000, SPH MediaWorks was set up with the aim of breaking into the broadcasting business,[6] and received Singapore's second nationwide free-to-air terrestrial television broadcasting service licence on 26 April 2001.[7] SPH soon afterwards launched two channels, Channel U (Mandarin) on 6 May 2001 and TVWorks (English) on 20 May 2001.[8] On 3 March 2002, TVWorks was renamed to Channel i with a new programming belt.[9]
On 31 December 2004, SPH sold its television operation to Mediacorp, restoring Mediacorp's former monopoly status. Channel i was shut down on 1 January 2005, but Channel U continues to operate. Through a merger, SPH retained a 20% stake in Mediacorp's television operational, as well as 40% stake in Today newspaper.[10]
The National Library Board and SPH signed an agreement in 2007 to make digitised articles of The Straits Times available for public access at NLB libraries. The digitised articles were made available at NewspaperSG and was launched on 28 January 2010.[11][12]
In 2009, SPH celebrated its 25th anniversary and for the first time, changed its corporate logo. The new logo was launched on 30 March that year by former president S. R. Nathan and chairman Tony Tan Keng Yam.[13]
In 2013, SPH acquired sgCarMart.[14]
On 1 September 2017, former Chief of Defence Force and CEO of Neptune Orient Lines Limited Ng Yat Chung became the CEO of SPH, replacing Alan Chan.[15]
On 29 September 2017, SPH completed its sale of its stakes in Mediacorp's television operational, and Today. Mediacorp Press and Mediacorp TV Holdings ceased to be associated companies of SPH.[10]
In November 2019, SPH stopped publishing Torque, a motoring publication, and moved its operation digital while parking it under its subsidiary, sgCarMart.[16]
On 27 April 2020, SPH divested Buzz, a modern retail convenience chain, to Thai-Pore Enterprise for an undisclosed sum. Buzz was previously a wholly owned subsidiary under SPH.[17]
On 22 June 2020, SPH was removed from the Straits Times Index (STI), which tracks 30 of the largest companies by market capitalisation listed on the mainboard of the Singapore Exchange after a quarterly review of the constituents of the STI announced on 5 June that year. It was replaced by Mapletree Industrial Trust.[18][19]
On 13 October 2020, SPH, which published The Straits Times and The Business Times, posted a net loss of $83.7 million for the full year. The loss was attributed to COVID-19 which affected all major business segments.[20]
On 1 February 2021, SPH's events subsidiary Sphere Exhibits merged with Temasek's SingEx Holdings.[21]
