Singapore Press Holdings Limited (SPH) was formed on 4 August 1984 through a merger of three organisations, The Straits Times Press Group, Singapore News and Publications Limited and Times Publishing Berhad. SPH readership has stagnated since the early-2000s as Singaporeans increasingly turned to online media for their news consumption. On 6 May 2021, SPH in response to shareholder pressures, had proposed that it would restructure itself and transfer its media business into a
company limited by guarantee (CLG), which will be privately managed. The new company would initially be managed by the holders of SPH's management shareholders at the time, while still having to issue new management shares of the media business under the CLG as required by Newspaper and Printing Presses Act. The government would also lift the shareholder limits on the currently listed SPH entity. On 10 September 2021, an
extraordinary general meeting was convened over the restructuring proposal to transfer all media business-related assets and staff to SMT. Approximately 97.55% of the 300 shareholders voted in favour of the proposal. The transfer was completed on 1 December 2021. The assets transferred included its headquarters, News Center, and its press, Print Center, as well as all intellectual property and information technology assets. Along with the assets transfer, 2,500 staff were transferred to SMT as well. SPH had also injected SMT with cash and of SPH stocks and SPH REIT units. As part of its restructuring, it discontinued the print publication of
The New Paper on 11 December 2021, becoming a digital-only publication. It also merged the
Lianhe Wanbao into the
Shin Min Daily News on 24 December 2021, citing the limited number of Chinese media talent in the country, redundancy in content, and a plan to focus on bolstering its digital operations. To aid with the restructuring of its operations, the Singapore government announced on 16 February 2022, that it would provide SMT up to over the next five years, with the amount dependent on achieving certain targets such as reach and engagement of its products and to certain
vernacular groups and youth. A review of internal processes of SMT was started in March 2022 which included the reporting of circulation data. In January 2023, it was reported that daily circulation numbers of SPH's publications, including broadsheets
The Straits Times and
Lianhe Zaobao, were inflated by 10 to 12 percent. ==Ownership==