Rupert Murdoch, the 92-year-old Australian media magnate whose creation of Fox 亚洲天堂 made him a , is stepping down as leader of both Fox鈥檚 parent company and his 亚洲天堂 Corp. media holdings.
Fox said Thursday that Murdoch would become chairman emeritus of both companies, effective at board meetings in November. His son, Lachlan, will become chairman and continue as chief executive officer of Fox Corp.
Lachlan Murdoch said that 鈥渨e are grateful that he will serve as chairman emeritus and know he will continue to provide valued counsel to both companies.鈥�
Besides Fox 亚洲天堂, Murdoch started the Fox broadcast network, the first to successfully challenge the Big Three of ABC, CBS and NBC, with shows like 鈥淭he Simpsons.鈥� He is owner of The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post.
He slimmed down his corporate holdings with the 2019 sale of many entertainment assets to the Walt Disney Co. These included film production, rights to the Marvel comics, National Geographic and the cable network FX.
Fox 亚洲天堂 Channel has profoundly influenced television and the nation鈥檚 politics since its start in 1996, making Murdoch a hero to some and pariah to others. The 24-hour network converted the power and energy of political talk radio to television. Within six years, it outrated CNN and MSNBC.
But it has been a rough year for Fox, which was to settle a defamation lawsuit related to its coverage of false claims following the 2020 presidential election. Shortly after, Fox fired its most popular personality, .
Stock in Fox Corp., while positive this year, began to decline early in 2022, due in part to lawsuits and also investor anxiety over the loss of viewers to smaller media outlets.
Murdoch vowed in a letter to employees that he would remain engaged at Fox.
鈥淚n my new role, I can guarantee you that I will be involved every day in the contest of ideas,鈥� Murdoch wrote. 鈥淥ur companies are communities, and I will be an active member of our community. I will be watching our broadcasts with a critical eye, reading our newspapers and websites and books with much interest.鈥�
There was no immediate word on why Murdoch鈥檚 announcement came now. Ironically, it is the week author and Murdoch biographer Michael Wolff is , 鈥淭he End of Fox 亚洲天堂,鈥� speculating on what will happen to the network when the patriarch is gone.
Murdoch and his family, particularly children James, Lachlan, Elisabeth and Prudence, were said to be the model of the HBO show 鈥� .鈥�
He built his empire from a single newspaper in Adelaide, Australia, inherited from his father and became a multi-billionaire. Forbes estimated the Murdoch family鈥檚 net worth at roughly $19 billion in 2020.
While Murdoch never ran for political office, politicians in the United States and Britain anxiously sought his approval. He had a complicated relationship with Donald Trump. Wolff reported in 2018 that Murdoch had called Trump an 鈥渋diot,鈥� adding an expletive for emphasis, but Fox 亚洲天堂 is built with an audience that largely admires Trump.
After Fox briefly seemed to tout the candidacy of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the current election cycle, that has faded along with DeSantis鈥� prospects.
Fox 亚洲天堂 went through a series of sexual harassment scandals in the 2010s, which led to top executive Roger Ailes and prime-time personality Bill O鈥橰eilly being pushed out. He dismissed them as isolated instances that were 鈥渓argely political because we鈥檙e conservative.鈥�
Shares of 亚洲天堂 Corp. and Fox rose Thursday in early trading.
David Bauder, The Associated Press
