Website creators.com Founded 13 February 1987 | Founder Richard S. Newcombe | |
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Industry News articles, News Columns, Comics Key people Richard S. Newcombe - Founder/CEO; Jack Newcombe - President; Melissa Lin - Vice President of Business Affairs; Marianne Sugawara - Vice President of Operations; David Yontz - Managing Editor Headquarters Hermosa Beach, California, United States Type of business Print and digital syndicate | ||
Creators Syndicate (a.k.a. Creators) is an American independent distributor of comic strips and syndicated columns to daily newspapers, websites and other digital outlets. When founded in 1987, Creators Syndicate became one of the few successful independent syndicates founded since the 1930s and was the first syndicate to allow cartoonists ownership rights to their work. Creators Syndicate is based in Hermosa Beach, California.
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History
Creators Syndicate originated on February 13, 1987, after the December 24, 1986-announced sale of the Irvine, California-based News America Syndicate to King Features Syndicate, a print syndication company owned by The Hearst Corporation. The pending sale of News America Syndicate, which was first reported by Advertising Age in October 1986, prompted 36-year-old News America Syndicate president Richard S. Newcombe to leave NAS in January 1987 and use financial backing from London-based publisher Robert Maxwell to form Creators Syndicate before the close of the NAS' sale. Ann Landers, then the world's most widely syndicated newspaper columnist, also announced that she was leaving NAS to join the newly formed Creators Syndicate. Within a month, Creators Syndicate acquired the syndication rights to the worldwide comic strip B.C., and a few months after that acquired the syndication rights to the cartoon works of Herblock, an American editorial cartoonist and author known for his commentary on domestic and foreign policy.
New Business Ventures
In May 2008, Creators Syndicate purchased Copley News Service, a 1955-founded San Diego-based wire service that distributed news, political cartoons and opinion columns.
During the past several years, Creators has expanded its business to include Creators Publishing, Alpha Comedy, a literary and lifestyle magazine, a political website, a podcast network, and Sumner Books, an e-book and audiobook publishing company.