Who owns the top 10 Canadian news websites?

As it turns out, 2/3rds are owned by telecommunication giants and Postmedia

Feedspot, a content reader that brings together selected websites in one place, provides a list of the top Canadian news websites based on the metrics of weekly output and the number of followers on social media (Facebook & Twitter).

Image shows 3 newspapers owned by Postmedia: The National Post, The Ottawa Sun, the Ottawa Citizen. The image was found in Sean Craig’s Oct. 20, 2016 article in the Financial Post.

#7 through 10 (40%) are all owned by one company: Postmedia Network Canadian Corp.

Postmedia’s logo, found on the header of their website on Jan 9th, 2019.

#7 National Post (1998 — ) Iniatially founded by Conrad Black, it’s current owner is Postmedia Network Canadian Corp., is composed of the former publishing properties of Canwest, the latter founded by Manitoba born lawyer and politician Israel “Izzy” Asper).

#8 Toronto Sun (1971 — ) Owned byPostmedia, former publishing properties of Canwest.

#9 Financial Post (1907 — ) Folded into the National post in 1998, owned by Postmedia.

#10 The Vancouver Sun (1912 — ) Owned by Postmedia.

Private telecommunications companies own 30%

Historical logos used by the Canadian telecommunications company Bell Canada. Image found on Bell Canada’s “Our Strategy” website.

#3 CTV News (1961 — ) Owned by Bell Media, a subsidiary of the telecommunications company Bell Canada.

Shaw Communications logo and Corus Entertainment logo found in a Jan 16, 2016 short online post by DurhamRadioNews.com.

#4 Global News (1994 — ) Owned by Corus Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Canadian telecommunications company Shaw Communications).

US telecommunications company Verizon owns #6:

Image source.

#6 Huffington Post Canada (2011 — ) (owner: Verizon Media Group (formerly Oath 2017-19), a subsidiary of US telecommunications company Verizon Communications, owner of AOL since 2015 and Yahoo since 2017).

#5 Toronto Star

Table taken from Torstar’s “Approach to Digital” website section.

#5 Toronto Star (“The Star”) (1892 — ) is owned by Torstar Corporation, the private company founded by the trustees of the charitable Atkinson Foundation to whom the Star’s editor and controling shareholder, Joseph Atkinson, entrusted the newspaper after his death in 1948 (for more, see Betsy Powell’s 2002 article).

#2, The Globe and Mail (1936 — )

Owned by a Canadian private holding company, The Woodbridge Company Limited, which is the principal and controlling (>60%) shareholder of the multinational media and information firm Thomson Reuters (formed in 2008 when the British company Reuters Groups (1851–2008) was acquired by The Thomson Corporation, a Canadian information company).

Finally, the #1 Canadian news website is CBC News (1952 — )

Owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster).