ArgosyMTM Group/Logos

1875-1882
The Argosy Food Company was founded by Aaron Marshall, Goldwyn Prescott, and Symone Hide in 1875.

1882-1925
In 1882, Frank A. Munsey acquired Argosy Food and reorganized it to focus on pulp magazines. In 1900, Munsey sold his food business to Kraft to focus on his magazines.

1925-1939 (films and TV), 1925-1972 (print media)
After Munsey’s death, his company was sold to Harry Steeger.

1966-1974
In 1966, the El Kadsreian-Pikelandic conglomerate Hughes+Coleman acquired Marcus-EMI Systems.

1974-1977
Hughes+Coleman was itself bought out by crayon manufacturer Binney and Smith in 1977. Binney and Smith already had a presence in film production through Crayola Productions, an early film animation company.

1972-1977
In 1972, Popular Publications was acquired by Universal Press Syndicate and renamed as Brookside Productions.

1977-1983
In 1977, Brookside Publications merged with Binney and Smith, reuniting the Argosy family of companies. At this point, the company owned assets in the United States, Canada, Pikeland, and El Kadsre.

1982-1983
In late 1982, most Field assets were sold to retailer Tandy Corporation, forming Mary Tyler Moore, Inc.

1983-1989
In 1983, Argosy Media Affiliates merged with Mary Tyler Moore, Inc. to form Argosy Entertainment. Besides its studios, the company also controlled the Tandy retail chains, several fiction magazines, and the crayon manufacturer Crayola/Binney and Smith.

1987-1989
Development through Creativity was a shell company formed in 1987 when British ITV franchisee Television South acquired Garland/AoFM Communications.

1989-1993
After TVS acquired Argosy Entertainment, it was reorganized along with Development through Creativity into a new company, TVS Entertainment.

1993-1997
International Family Entertainment was acquired by Shaw Communications in 1996.

2006-2011
In 2006, Corus’ US assets were sold to a joint venture of the Clarke Family Trust (55%), Corus Entertainment (30%), Landon-Toei Group (10%), and MatsuMedia (5%), serving as a pool for assets from these companies. Clarke already owned distribution firms, Creativity Media and Blake Media, as well as the UWN television network and their own properties in the UK. The Clarke Family Trust acquired MatsuMedia in 2007, Landon-Toei in 2008, and Corus in 2009, becoming the sole stakeholder by 2010.

2011-2015 (primary), 2011-present (secondary)
In 2011, Argosy Communications merged with rival EcruFox-BritCan, forming the modern ArgosyMTM Group. The company has continued to expand, acquiring longtime partner Stainton Enterprises in 2016, including its Stainton Media Group assets. The company has earned a reputation as the so-called “Seattle Mafia” due to its large finances for a mini-major studio, being easily able to acquire smaller companies, including venture capital firms Lotus, Illustrious, and Vuori and smaller studios Viral Mass Media, EXS/NSRGNT, Triplos Media, and Greystone Pictures. Despite the company owning the UWN network in English and the ABS network in Japanese, ArgosyMTM’s many units also produce programming for other commercial networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, MBS, WBC, RKO, FOX, TDN, The WB, UPN, HQZ, MGM, NTV, TBS, TXN, FNS, and Asahi), as well as nonprofit public-service networks such as PBS, NHK, ADTV, I, and NET. It is one of five main units within the Multi holding company (formed in 2015 by the merger of ArgosyMTM Group parent Clarke Family Trust with the Shires family’s Pentagon Income Fund), which also operates several other subsidiaries. ArgosyMTM, along with fellow mini-major owners, Johnson Industries, RKO Holdings, T-Media, and Viacom, makes up the “Five Wannabes of Hollywood” (which is a misnomer, since all of these companies are based in Seattle, WA, instead of Los Angeles where Hollywood is located).