.
1939–1948: Foundation and expansion was established in 1939 by an investor named . It was the first evening paper in
Mandatory Palestine, and attempted to emulate the format of the
London Evening Standard. Running into financial difficulties, Komarov sold the paper to , a wealthy land dealer who regarded the paper as an interesting hobby and a long-term financial investment. His sons Reuben and
Noah ran the paper, with Noah as the first managing editor. In the first decades following Carlebach's departure,
Maarivs circulation greatly outnumbered
Yedioths although over the years
Yedioths readership grew steadily and by the early 1980s its circulation eclipsed
Maarivs and made it the country's largest newspaper. This success was in large part thanks to the efforts of
Dov Yudkovski, a distant cousin of Mozes and
Holocaust survivor who joined
Yedioth following "the Putsch" in 1948, serving as editorial manager between 1953 and 1986, and chief editor between 1986 and 1989. Although officially Rosenblum held the title of chief editor between 1948 and 1986, his duties only extended to writing the paper's leading
editorial article while Yudkovski acted as chief editor in practice.
1984–1993: In competition with Hadashot On March 4, 1984, a new competitor to
Yediot Ahronoth was established, the
Hadashot newspaper founded by
Amos Schocken.
Hadashot featured a large color headline and color pages, and used more innovative and less formal language. Its main target audience were the readers of
Yediot Ahronot, a situation that required
Yediot Ahronot to react in order to maintain its readers and market position.
Yediot editor
Moshe Vardi, together with
Noni Mozes, led the transition of the newspaper to printing in color.
Zeev Galili, appointed head of reporters, recruited a series of freelance reporters from other newspapers, and worked to improve the newspaper's ability to obtain scoops. The changes in
Yediot Ahronot paid off, and
Hadashot was forced to close after nine years of activity, after heavy losses for the Schocken family.
1993–2007: The Newspaper of the Nation For his achievements, Yudkovski was awarded the
Sokolov Prize for Journalism in 2000 and the 2002
Israel Prize in Communications. Moshe Vardi was replaced as editor in 2005 by Rafi Ginat. Shilo De-Beer was promoted to editor in April 2007. Mistakes did happen over the years. For example, in 2003, the co-founder of
Aswat, an organization supporting lesbian Palestinian women, was outed by the Yedioth Ahronoth after agreeing to an interview, despite asking for her sexual orientation not be included in the article. In 2006,
Yedioth Ahronoth was the most widely-read newspaper among both native Hebrew and Arabic speakers.
Since 2007: In competition with Israel Hayom In 2007,
Israel Hayom, a
free newspaper owned by the family of casino mogul
Sheldon Adelson, was launched. By July 2010,
Israel Hayom had overtaken as the most read newspaper in terms of exposure with a rate of 35.2% compared to
Yedioth's 34.9%. De-Beer was replaced as editor by Ron Yaron in 2011. As of 2017, the paper is headed by Noah Mozes's son,
Arnon Mozes. In January 2017, secret recordings were released of conversations between Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and Mozes discussing a potential deal in which the newspaper would provide better coverage of Netanyahu in exchange for the government limiting the circulation of competitor
Israel Hayom. This led to the opening of "
Case 2000"
corruption investigation against Netanyahu. As of July 31, 2023, a TGI survey indicated that
Israel Hayom, distributed for free, is Israel's most read newspaper, with a 29.4% weekday readership exposure, followed by
Yedioth Ahronoth, with 22.3%,
Haaretz with 4.8%,
Globes with 4% and
Maariv with 3.9%. ==Yedioth Ahronoth Group==