Misplaced Pages

DC Thomson & Company Limited

Logo used since 2011
Dundee headquarters at Meadowside
Company type	Private
Industry	Publishing
Founded	1905; 119 years ago (1905)
Founder	David Couper Thomson
Headquarters	Dundee, Scotland, UK
Key people	Christopher HW Thomson (Chairman) David Thomson (Director & COO) Richard Hall (Director)
Products	Sunday Post The Evening Telegraph My Weekly Jackie Shout The Beano The Dandy Commando See also: List of D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd publications
Revenue	£245 million (2016)
Operating income	£30.06 million (2016)
Total assets	£1.404 billion (2016)
Number of employees	2,148 (2016)
Subsidiaries	DC Thomson Media DC Thomson Ventures Brightsolid, Findmypast Beano Studios Emanata Studios Shortlist Media Puzzler Media Wild & Wolf Pure Radio Scotland Fifth Ring
Website	dcthomson.co.uk

DC Thomson is a media company based in Dundee, Scotland. Founded by David Couper Thomson in 1905, it is best known for publishing The Courier, The Evening Telegraph and The Sunday Post newspapers, and the comics Oor Wullie, The Broons, The Beano, The Dandy and Commando. It also owns the Aberdeen Journals Group which publishes the Press and Journal. The company owns several websites, including Findmypast, and owned the now defunct social media site Friends Reunited.

History

The company began as a branch of the Thomson family business when William Thomson became the sole proprietor of Charles Alexander & Company, publishers of Dundee Courier and Daily Argus. In 1884, David Couper Thomson took over the publishing business, and established it as D.C. Thomson in 1905. The firm flourished, and took its place as the third J in the "Three Js", the traditional summary of Dundee industry ('jute, jam and journalism').

Thomson was notable for his conservatism, vigorously opposing the introduction of trade unions into his workforce, and for refusing to employ Catholics. Among historians of popular culture, the firm has "excited a good deal of interest precisely because it has always shrouded its activities in secrecy ... has never allowed scholars access to its archives, and has declined to participate in exhibitions of juvenile literature."

By 2010, the company was producing more than 100 million comics, magazines, and newspapers every year from offices in Dundee, Glasgow, Manchester, and London. In June 2010, 350 jobs at DC Thomson were made redundant with the closure of the West Ward Printworks in Dundee, along with a section of the Kingsway Print Plant.

Although the principal offices are now located outside Dundee city centre at Kingsway, the Courier Building at Meadowside has been retained as the company headquarters. This 1902 building was designed to resemble an American red stone, steel reinforced office block. When a nine-storey tower extension was added in 1960, the architect T. Lindsay Grey kept the same style. The building underwent extensive renovation and reopened to employees in 2017, and is able to accommodate 600 workers.

In 2009 DC Thomson acquired the magazine company This England Publishing, which included This England magazine and Evergreen quarterly magazine. In the same year DC Thomson acquired the Friends Reunited website from ITV for £25.6m, but by 2011 it was valued at £5.2m and was eventually shut down completely in February 2016. In 2013 there were nine job losses at This England Publishing with the editorial team remaining but relocating in Cheltenham.

As of 2016, the company posted an increase in pre-tax profits and revenue whilst employing over 2,000 workers. Despite the falling circulation of newspapers and magazines, DC Thomson attributed the rising profits to company-wide cuts to operating costs and good figures in digital revenues and events. The company went on to say that they would continue to branch out their brand into new areas to support the traditional newspaper and magazine divisions.

In February 2023, it was announced that several "well-loved" titles would be closed and employees would be made redundant as part of a wider restructuring. On 9 February 2023, it was announced that Shout, Living, Platinum Magazine, Evergreen, Animals & You and Animal Planet would be closed with 300 employees being made redundant.

Subsidiaries

Current

Brightsolid

Brightsolid is a data centre and cloud-based hosting company based in Dundee that DC Thomson established in 1995 as Scotland Online. It became Brightsolid in 2008, organised into two divisions: Brightsolid Online Publishing (BSOP) and Brightsolid Online Technology (BSOT). The two divisions were split into separate businesses in October 2013, and Brightsolid Online Publishing was renamed DC Thomson Family History, with Annelies van den Belt as chief executive.

Findmypast

Findmypast Limited (formerly DC Thomson Family History, until 2015) owns a variety of large genealogy sites worldwide, including Findmypast, Genes Reunited and Mocavo. The company had contracts to digitise archives for the Imperial War Museum and the British Library, where it was making the British Newspaper Archive searchable.

Former

DC Thomson once owned Bridlington-based children's publisher Peter Haddock until they closed it in late 2013.

Publications

D.C. Thomson publications include:

• Sunday Post
• The Courier
• The Evening Telegraph
• My Weekly
• The Scots Magazine
• The People's Friend
• The Beano
• The Dandy
• Commando
• Jackie
• Shout
• Bunty

Gallery

• DC Thomson printing offices on the Kingsway
• DC Thomson's tower extension from The Howff
• Meadowside offices from another angle

See also

• British comics
• Ellis Watson

References

1. ^ "D.C. Thomson & Co Ltd". Retrieved 28 October 2016.
2. "brightsolid acquires Friends Reunited". Brightsolid.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
3. "Victorian Dundee: Jute, Jam & Journalism". Scottish History. BBC. Retrieved 2 October 2007.
4. "Gazetteer for Scotland: David Couper Thomson".
5. MacKenzie, John M. (1984). Propaganda and Empire: the manipulation of British public opinion, 1880–1960. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press. p. 219. ISBN 0719018692.
6. "Beano publisher DC Thomson to cut 350 jobs". BBC News. 9 June 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
7. "Dundee, 22 Meadowside, Dc Thomson And Co, Courier Building". Canmore. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
8. Thomson, David (9 May 2017). "Photos and video: The Courier goes back home to Meadowside in Dundee". The Courier. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
9. "DC Thomson's Friends Reunited continues fall in value". BBC News. 11 December 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
10. "Publisher DC Thomson posts 20% rise in profits". BBC News. 7 January 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
11. "Staff at DC Thomson facing redundancies as titles close". BBC News. 8 February 2023. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
12. "Three hundred jobs to go at publisher DC Thomson". BBC News. 9 February 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
13. "The Future for Family History is Digital". DC Thomson Family History. 1 October 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
14. "Digital media executive Annelies van den Belt joins in brightsolid reorganisation". The Courier. 30 August 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
15. ^ "Shake-up at online firm brightsolid". BBC News. 30 August 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
16. Sharp, Tim (1 January 2014). "Books division hits DC Thomson profits". The Herald. Glasgow. p. 22. Retrieved 27 May 2023 – via ProQuest.

Further reading

• McAleer, Joseph (1992). Popular Reading and Publishing in Britain: 1914–1950. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198203292. — includes a chapter on D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd.

External links

• Official website

v t e DC Thomson comics
Currently running comics	The Beano Commando Fun Section in The Sunday Post
Adventure comics	Adventure Bullet Buddy Champ Commando The Crunch The Hornet The Hotspur The Rover The Skipper Spike Starblazer The Vanguard The Victor Warlord The Wizard
Girls' comics	Bunty Judy Mandy Nikki
Humour comics	The Beano The Beezer Buzz Classics from the Comics Cracker The Dandy EPIC Magazine Fun Size Comics Hoot The Magic Comic Nutty Plug Sparky The Topper
Pre-school comics	Bimbo The Magic Comic Twinkle
Notable strips	Alf Tupper Baby Crockett Bananaman The Bash Street Kids Beryl the Peril Black Bob Biffo the Bear Big Eggo The Broons Calamity James Cuddles and Dimples Dennis the Menace Desperate Dan Ginger Gnasher Ivy the Terrible Jonah Keyhole Kate Korky the Cat Little Plum Lord Snooty Matt Braddock Mickey the Monkey Minnie the Minx Nero and Zero The Numskulls Oor Wullie Pansy Potter Send for Kelly Roger the Dodger Tricky Dicky Willy Nilly Winker Watson Wilson the Wonder Athlete Wolf of Kabul
Comic annuals	The Beano Annual The Beezer Book The Bimbo Book The Dandy Annual The Hotspur Book for Boys The Sparky Book The Topper Book The Victor Book for Boys Warlord Book for Boys
Character annuals	Bananaman Annual The Bash Street Kids Annual Beryl the Peril Annual Black Bob Book The Broons Annual Dennis the Menace Annual The Desperate Dan Book Oor Wullie Annual
Notable artists	Barrie Appleby Nigel Auchterlounie Leo Baxendale Gordon Bell Nick Brennan Paddy Brennan Sid Burgon Reg Carter Wilbur Dawbarn Karl Dixon The Etherington Brothers Hunt Emerson Andy Fanton John Geering Barry Glennard Charles Grigg Ken H. Harrison Laura Howell Diego Jourdan Malcolm Judge David Law Trevor Metcalfe Allan Morley David Mostyn Vic Neill Robert Nixon Gary Northfield Nigel Parkinson Tom Paterson Jim Petrie Ken Reid Bill Ritchie David Parkins Jon Rushby Jamie Smart Lew Stringer David Sutherland Kev F. Sutherland Dudley D. Watkins Stevie White
Notable writers	Mike Chinn Gilbert Lawford Dalton Alan Grant Ian Gray R. D. Low Grant Morrison John Radford Cavan Scott John Smith
See also	List of D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd publications List of AP, Fleetway and IPC Comics publications List of Beano comic strips List of Dandy comic strips List of Topper comic strips List of Beezer comic strips List of Beezer and Topper comic strips
Category

v t e The Beano
DC Thomson R. D. Low
Stories	1938-1939 Big Eggo Hairy Dan Helpful Henry Lord Snooty Morgyn the Mighty Pansy Potter Ping the Elastic Man Tin-Can Tommy Wee Peem 1940s Biffo the Bear Jack Flash Jimmy and his Magic Patch Winnie the Witch 1950s The Bash Street Kids (Pup Parade, Simply Smiffy, Singled Out, Winston) Dennis the Menace (Bea, Gnasher, Walter the Softy, Rasher) General Jumbo Grandpa Jonah Little Plum Minnie the Minx (Fatty Fudge) Roger the Dodger The Three Bears 1960s Billy the Cat Billy Whizz Colonel Crackpot's Circus 1970s Baby Face Finlayson The Belles of St. Lemons Gnasher's Tale The McTickles The Nibblers Richard the Lion Tom, Dick and Sally 1980s Calamity James Danny's Nanny The Germs Gnasher and Gnipper Ivy the Terrible Number 13 Beano Street 1990s Beaginnings Betty and the Yeti Crazy for Daisy Gordon Bennett Joe King Les Pretend The Numskulls Tim Traveller Tricky Dicky 2000s Colin the Vet Derek the Sheep Freddie Fear Joe Jitsu Johnny Bean from Happy Bunny Green Lord Snooty the Third Olaff the Madlander Ratz Robbie Rebel Splodge Super School 2010s Bananaman Corporal Clott Meebo and Zuky
Other media	Spin-off media The Beano Annual List of Beano comic strips by annual Beano comic libraries/Fun Size Comics EPIC Magazine The Beano Summer Special Dennis the Menace Annual The Magic Comic Plug Adaptations Bananaman (TV series) (BBC, 1983-1986) The Beano's Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Show (TCC, 1990–91) The Beano Video (1993) The Beano Videostars (1994) Dennis and Gnasher (BBC, 1996–98) Dennis and Gnasher (BBC, 2009–13) Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! (BBC, 2017-present) Banananman Musical (2017-2018)
Creator staff	D.C. Thomson artists Leo Baxendale Paddy Brennan Jim Petrie Ken Reid Dudley D. Watkins Freelance artists Barrie Appleby Nigel Auchterlounie Gordon Bell Basil Blackaller Nick Brennan Sid Burgon Reg Carter Wilbur Dawbarn Hunt Emerson Andy Fanton John Geering Barry Glennard Harry Hargreaves Ken H. Harrison Laura Howell Diego Jourdan Malcolm Judge David Law Trevor Metcalfe Allan Morley David Mostyn Vic Neill Robert Nixon Gary Northfield David Parkins Nigel Parkinson Tom Paterson Mike Pearse Dean Rankine Bill Ritchie Jon Rushby Cavan Scott Duncan Scott Jamie Smart Lew Stringer David Sutherland Kev F. Sutherland Stevie White
History	The Beano timeline
Category

• DC Thomson Comics
• 1905 establishments in Scotland
• Publishing companies established in 1905
• Companies based in Dundee
• Comic book publishing companies of Scotland
• Magazine publishing companies of Scotland
• Mass media companies of Scotland
• Newspaper companies of Scotland
• Book publishing companies of Scotland
• Mass media in Dundee