BBC Worldwide Collection International to form 2 Entertain, which was part owned by BBC Worldwide; the following year the company sold "Eve" magazine to Haymarket Group and in 2006 the company sold a majority stake in BBC Books to publisher Random House. In 2007 BBC Worldwide purchased a 75% stake in the travel guide publisher Lonely Planet, acquiring the final 25% of the company in 2011. The acquisition was part of the BBC's strategy to grow its online portfolio and to increase its operations in Australia and the USA. In January 2009 it was announced that Ofcom had put forward the recommendation
BBC World Service Service is funded by the United Kingdom's television licence fee, limited advertising and the profits of BBC Worldwide Ltd. The service is also guaranteed £289 million (allocated over a five-year period ending in 2020) from the UK government. The World Service was funded for decades by grant-in-aid through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the British Government until 1 April 2014. The controller of BBC World Service, English, is Mary Hockaday. The BBC World Service began in 1932 as the BBC Empire Service, broadcasting on shortwave and aimed principally at English speakers across the British Empire. In his first Christmas