Murdochs, burned on MySpace, seek return to social media with TikTok
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US President Donald Trump said on Sept 21 that Fox chief executive Lachlan Murdoch and his father Rupert would have a role in TikTok.
PHOTO: AFP
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Los Angeles – A Fox Corp investment in TikTok would give the Murdoch media empire a platform with 170 million US users to promote a broad range of TV programming – from the National Football League to The Simpsons – and a chance to redeem the family’s catastrophic purchase of MySpace 20 years ago.
Fox is considering making an investment in TikTok as part of a group that includes Oracle, Andreessen Horowitz and Silver Lake Management
US President Donald Trump said on Sept 21 that Fox chief executive Lachlan Murdoch and his father Rupert would have a role in the business.
The Trump administration is pushing for the sale of TikTok’s American operations to comply with a law requiring the app’s Chinese owner to divest or face a ban on the platform in the United States.
The legislation was passed in the wake of concerns that TikTok accesses personal information on Americans. TikTok is owned by China’s ByteDance
A potential tie-in with the popular TikTok service will help Fox to reach young audiences in new ways, exposing them to everything from broadcast TV shows to streaming businesses like the ad-supported Tubi and Fox One, a paid online platform.
Mr Rupert Murdoch, founder of both Fox and News Corp, bought the social media service MySpace in 2005 for US$580 million (S$743 million).
That business, which was popular with musicians looking to promote their music, ultimately could not keep up with changing consumer tastes and the rise of Facebook.
Mr Murdoch sold the company six years later for US$35 million. He retired as chairman of both companies in 2023, but has still been involved in major decisions.
A newshound who has long played an active role in shaping political fortunes from Britain to his native Australia, Mr Murdoch would potentially gain a voice at an influential social media company, popular with people who do not subscribe to conventional pay TV or printed publications.
The Murdochs recently restructured a family trust to give Mr Lachlan Murdoch control of their empire.
The proposed TikTok deal comes three years after billionaire Elon Musk purchased Twitter and renamed the service X.
Last week, Bloomberg reported that sales at X dropped slightly during the second quarter from the first quarter, signalling that the social network has struggled to build on the spending that rushed in when Mr Musk was at the centre of US politics. BLOOMBERG
