ITIM was founded in 1950 by the seven main Israeli newspapers of the time, who each held an equal stake in the agency.The agency went into receivership in November 2003 and nearly ceased operations due to massive debts. On 19 February 2004, it was bought by an Israeli company for US$75,000. The agency now specialises in providing reports to foreign news agencies such as Germany's Deutsche Presse-Agentur and the Federal News Agency based in Washington, D.C., United States.