Independent Newspapers

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 over 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 Corp Australia 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 Corp Australia holding in INL fluctuated over the years and was just over 49 percent in 1997.

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. Around this time INL Print Limited (later Inprint Ltd) was formed to combine the printing and publishing operations of the commercial printing companies which operated prior to the various mergers.

Some of the oldest newspapers in New Zealand joined the INL stable in the next two decades. In 1980 it took over The Manawatu Standard Limited, publisher of the Evening Standard since 1880. Four years later the company shifted its sights to the South Island, acquiring 122-year-old The Southland Times. The following year, 1985, it took over The Timaru Herald, founded in 1864 and a daily newspaper since 1878. In 1987 the Christchurch Press Co Ltd, publisher of The Press since 1861, joined the INL group.

INL moved north again in 1989, buying Taranaki Newspapers Limited and part of NZ News Limited, including the Auckland Star, the Sunday Star and Suburban Newspapers (Auckland), New Zealand's largest group of free community newspapers. The Auckland Star was subsequently closed down.

In 1993 INL moved south again, acquiring the Nelson Evening Mail (since renamed The Nelson Mail). The Marlborough Express was bought in 1998 and a number of small community newspapers have also been acquired in recent times, including South Otago Newspapers.

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