Balita
Balita, a Filipino-language daily tabloid, first published in December, 1972, is considered sober compared to other sensationalism-inclined tabloids.
Originally owned by Liwayway Publishing, Inc., (it served as an insert of Liwayway magazine) the paper along with other magazines printed in the vernacular (Liwayway, Bisaya, Hiligaynon, and Bannawag), was eventually acquired by Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation in 2005.
Many of the print media with national circulation suffered a decline in readership even before, and especially during the pandemic. The public relied more on online sources and social media for news and information.
Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation eventually decided to stop printing Balita and its last printed issue was March 31, 2021. It has migrated online via balita.net.ph, with the company explaining that Balita has “been repurposed as an online brand that has garnered a broad-based patronage.”
The brand has such significant recall that according to Nielsen’s Consumer and Media View survey for Q2 of 2023, it was the top tabloid in the Mindanao region with 0.75% audience share, and also led in Cebu and Davao with 0.7% and 0.89% shares, respectively. Its national audience share is 0.82% as supposedly the seventh leading newspaper in the country.
However, since printing of physical copies of the tabloid has ceased, Nielsen clarified that consumer engagement for print and online news brands in the Philippines was measured through a survey that gathers “claimed media consumption habits and usage among respondents in urban Philippines.”
Audience Share
0.82%
Ownership Type
Private
Geographic Coverage
National
Content Type
Paid content
Media Companies / Groups
Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation
Ownership Structure
Balita is owned by Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation. As of September 2023, the top three shareholders of Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation are the U.S Automotive Co., Inc (54.20%), USAUTOCO Inc. (23.34%) and the Menzi Trust Fund, Inc. (8.42%).
Voting Rights
Every stockholder entitled to vote shall be entitled to one vote for each share of stock. Stockholders are also given the option to vote via online (in absentia) or through their duly authorized attorney or a proxy.
Individual Owner
Group / Individual Owner
Menzi Trust Fund, Inc.
Menzi Trust Fund, Inc. is a trust company that oversees the assets and investments of the late Manila Bulletin publisher/owner Hans Menzi and its Foundation. According to its general information sheet, the foundation’s primary purpose is to “to promote, carry on, conduct and encourage the advancement and development of education, scientific research and training . . . Scholarships.” It also owns stocks in BDO (00.01%).
PCD Nominee Corporation
The Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation did not disclose who are the holder/s of the 5.11% shares entered into the PCD Nominee Corporation, which is a financial holding corporation that holds legal title to immobilized shares lodged in the Philippine Central Depository, Inc. system and operates as a subsidiary of Philippine Central Depository.
General Information
Founding Year
1972
Affiliated Interests Founder
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Affiliated Interests Ceo
is the president of Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation. He is the first grandson of the company’s late former chairman and his namesake Emilio T. Yap and the nephew of the incumbent chairman Basilio C. Yap. He holds various positions in the Yap family’s conglomerate as the vice chairman/president of the Bulletin’s ultimate parent company US Automotive Co., Inc., and its subsidiaries USAUTOCO, Inc., Manila Prince Hotel Corporation, Cocusphil Development Corporation. He also serves as a board director of Centro Escolar University and vice chairman of Philtrust Bank and Manila Hotel.
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
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Affiliated Interests other important people
currently sits as executive vice president, is a member of the board of directors and is the compliance officer of the Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation. He has held these multiple positions since 2016, and was also named publisher in May 2021.
The businessman-educator served under three Philippine presidents — Corazon Aquino (1986 - 1992), Joseph Estrada (1998 - 2001), and Benigno Aquino III (2010 - 2016). He held several positions during the first Aquino administration (head of the Presidential Management Staff, deputy executive secretary, and undersecretary for the Departments of Transportation and Agrarian Reform). He was again appointed as transportation undersecretary during the Estrada administration. Coloma later served as communications secretary and presidential spokesperson during the second Aquino presidency.
As an educator, he served as dean for executive education, and program director for development management at the Asian Institute of Management, and as the sixth president of the University of Makati from 1996 to 1999. A member of the Rotary Philippines, Coloma serves as editor-in-chief of the organization’s monthly magazine.
was the 20th chief justice of the Philippine Supreme Court from 1998 to 2005, has been serving as an independent director and one of three vice chairpersons of Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation since March 2011.
He has held various positions in government, notably as a commissioner of the 1986 Constitutional Commission which drafted the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines and chairperson of the Commission on Elections from 1988 to 1990.
At present, he is a board director at Philtrust Bank and independent director at the Megawide Construction Corporation. He chairs the Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee Memorial Foundation, Inc., Heart of Francis Foundation Inc., and Kompass Credit and Financing Corporation.
He is also a trustee of Knights of Columbus of the Philippines Foundation, Inc.; Knights of Columbus Fr. George J. Willmann, SJ Charities, Inc., and University of San Carlos (Cebu). Davide is supreme commander emeritus and a member of the Council of Elders of the Knights of Rizal. He is also a member of the Association of Retired Justices of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, serving as its president from 2010 to June 2020.
who was elected as vice chairman and independent director of Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation in July 2011, was a senator from 1987 to 1998.
He has held several government portfolios, including budget secretary (1986 - 1987); finance secretary (January - June 2001); executive secretary (June 2001 - August 2004); and foreign affairs secretary (2004 - 2011).
In December 2022, Romulo was replaced by former associate justice Dante Tiñga as chairman of the Development Bank of the Philippines, which he occupied since 2017.
an independent director at the Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation since July 2017, was a legislative representative of Pangasinan’s 4th district from 2010 to 2016. She is the chairperson of the INA Foundation, Inc., director of Sampaguita Pictures, Inc., and independent director of Philtrust Bank.
an independent director of Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation since September 2020, is a former member of the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) from 2014 to 2020. He has served various positions in the BSP including deputy governor and general counsel from 2010 to 2013 and general counsel from 2000 to 2010. He is currently a private sector representative in the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation since 2021, and is a senior counsel at Divina Law Office since 2020.
a retired police chief superintendent and former regional police director, is the vice president for administration of the Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation. He joined the company in 2014.
Contact
Manila Bulletin Building, Muralla corner Recoletos Streets., Intramuros, Manila, Philippines
Telephone: 8527-8121
mb.com.ph
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
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Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
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Advertising (in % of total funding)
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Market Share
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Further Information
Headlines
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Meta Data
Although Balita has already stopped its print edition in 2021, it still ranked No. 7 among all newspapers in the Philippines as of the second quarter of 2023, based on Nielsen’s media landscape report.
Audience share is based on Consumer & Media View survey for newspapers under Nielsen’s Philippine Media Landscape Report for Quarter 2 of 2023.
Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation’s annual report 2022 did not provide a breakdown for operating profit and advertising revenue per each of its newspapers and magazines.
The list of shareholders of the Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation is obtained from its Nov. 14, 2023 quarterly report submitted to the Philippine Stock Exchange. The shares owned by the Yap family only comprise those owned by its members and companies.
Conversion rate on Oct. 17, 2023: PhP56.836 per US$1.
Sources
Media Landscape Report for Quarter 2, 2023, available upon purchase from Nielsen Company (US), LLC
