Who Owns ESPN?

By Staff WriterLast Updated March 24, 2020

The channel ESPN is owned by ESPN, Inc., which is a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Corporation as of 2014. It was previously owned by ABC and Getty Oil.

The Walt Disney company took control of ESPN in 1995 when it took over ABC, which had in turn bought ESPN from Getty Oil. As of 2014, Disney owns 80 percent of ESPN, Inc., while Hearst Corporation owns the remaining 20 percent. ESPN, Inc., owns other television channels besides ESPN, including ESPN2, ESPN International and the SEC network. It also owns radio stations such as ESPN Radio and Internet sites, such as ESPN.com.