Media mogul Rupert Murdoch steps down as chairman of Fox, News Corp
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Mr Rupert Murdoch had been at the head of his media empire for more than seven decades.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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NEW YORK – Mr Rupert Murdoch has stepped down as chairman of Fox Corp and News Corp, ending a more than seven-decade career during which he created a media empire spanning from Australia to the United States.
His son, Mr Lachlan Murdoch, will become the sole chairman of News Corp and continue as the chair and CEO of Fox, the companies said on Thursday.
The transition solidifies Lachlan’s role as the leader of the media empire, putting to rest questions of succession within the Murdoch family.
In a memo to staff on Thursday, Mr Murdoch wrote: “Our companies are in robust health, as am I.”
The news comes just months after Mr Murdoch, 92, scrapped a plan that would have reunited his media empire
Mr Murdoch, who has near-controlling stakes in both companies, will be appointed chairman emeritus of both the companies.
Earlier this year, Fox settled a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems
The trial would have put Fox in the crosshairs over its amplification of false vote-rigging claims in the 2020 US presidential election. Legal experts said the settlement was the largest ever struck by an American media company.
“Many of his enterprises still produce a lot of important news which helps keep the world informed in ways that might not have occurred were it not for his leadership,” said Mr Brian Wieser, media analyst at advisory firm Madison & Wall.
“But it’s impossible to ignore the other side of that, where Fox News amplified toxicity in the US political environment, and other properties similarly impacted other territories.”
Mr Murdoch, who has six children, has long desired his children to eventually take the reins of the empire. His son James had been CEO of Twenty-First Century Fox prior to the company’s decision to sell its film and television assets to Walt Disney Co for US$71.3 billion, a deal that closed in 2019.
James then channelled proceeds from the deal into a private investment firm, Lupa Systems.
Lachlan was appointed CEO of the new Fox Corp.
Mr Rupert Murdoch with his sons Lachlan (left) and James in London in 2016.
PHOTO: AFP
Upon Mr Murdoch’s death, his other children could challenge Lachlan’s power. Mr Murdoch controls News Corp and Fox Corp through a Reno, Nevada-based family trust that holds a roughly a 40 per cent stake in voting shares of each company. He also holds a small amount of shares of the companies outside of the trust.
Each of Mr Murdoch’s four adult children has a stake in the trust. However, his youngest daughters Chloe and Grace, from his third wife Wendi Deng, do not have voting rights in the trust.
The transfer of News Corp and Fox Corp voting shares from Mr Murdoch to his four adult children could create a scenario in which three of the children could out-vote a third, potentially setting up a battle over the future of the companies, even as Lachlan now oversees Fox Corp and News Corp.
Fox and News Corp have a dual-share system, with non-voting Class A shares and voting Class B shares. The shares in Fox and News Corp owned by Mr Murdoch’s children through the trust are a combination of both classes of shares.
Shares of Fox rose nearly 2 per cent after the news of Mr Murdoch stepping down. REUTERS
