Rupert Murdoch is stepping down as chair of Fox Corp. and News Corp after a seven-decade career.
The 92-year-old media tycoon announced the news in a memo to employees, saying he will transfer to the role of chairman emeritus of both companies.
The move is set to take effect at November annual meetings, the companies said in a joint release. Murdoch’s eldest son, Lachlan, will become sole chair of News Corp
NWS,
NWSA,
where he had shared that role with his father, and continue as Fox Corp.
FOX,
FOXA,
executive chair and CEO.
“For my entire professional life, I have been engaged daily with news and ideas, and that will not change,” Murdoch wrote. “But the time is right for me to take on different roles, knowing that we have truly talented teams and a passionate, principled leader in Lachlan who will become sole Chairman of both companies.”
The move comes as Fox struggles with the continued trend of consumers cutting their cable service and as the newspapers grouped under News Corp, including the Wall Street Journal and the Times of London, compete for digital subscribers and advertising dollars.
Fox Corp., parent of Fox News and related media properties, and News Corp, parent of MarketWatch publisher Dow Jones, share corporate ownership.
Fox earlier this year was forced to pay $787.5 million to settle a suit brought by voting technology maker Dominion Voting Systems, which sued Fox News for defamation after anchors and guests spread the false narrative that Dominion had participated in a rigging of the 2020 election in favor of President Joe Biden.
The media company is facing another suit from voting-machine company Smartmatic. That company is entitled to use the many communications that came to light during the discovery process in the Dominion case, which showed Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch and other top executives were skeptical of the claims of voter fraud even as Fox News anchors continued to broadcast them.
“Our companies are in robust health, as am I,” said Murdoch in the internal memo. “Our opportunities far exceed our commercial challenges.”
He also took a swing at what he apparently perceives as curtailments of free speech. “My father firmly believed in freedom, and Lachlan is absolutely committed to the cause,” wrote Murdoch.
“Self-serving bureaucracies are seeking to silence those who would question their provenance and purpose. Elites have open contempt for those who are not members of their rarefied class. Most of the media is in cahoots with those elites, peddling political narratives rather than pursuing the truth,” he said.
News Corp’s stock was down 0.4% early Thursday but has gained 10% to date in 2023, while the S&P 500
SPX
has gained 14%. Fox Corp. shares, up 1.5% early Thursday, are up 2.5% since the calendar year began.
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