Media Tycoon Rupert Murdoch Steps Down
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International
NEW YORK (Worthy News) – Robert Murdoch, who created a media empire spanning from Australia to the United States, says he steps down as the chairman of Fox Corporation and News Corp, ending a 70-year career.
His son Lachlan, 52, will become the sole chair of News Corp. — which oversees the Wall Street Journal and other print media — and continue as executive chair and CEO of Fox Corp.
The 92-year-old Murdoch can look back on an impressive media life. He managed to rise from publisher of a small Australian newspaper to become a driving force in global conservative media, most notably through broadcaster Fox News.
The influential media tycoon also became a kingmaker in U.S. politics, according to politics watchers.
Yet in a memo to Fox employees Thursday, he said he now wants to become “chairman emeritus” at both companies, which have faced turmoil.
He suggested his son will lead companies thriving despite legal and commercial challenges in a rapidly changing media environment. “Our companies are in robust health, as am I,” Murdoch wrote to staff members in a memo monitored by Worthy News.
The transition solidifies his son Lachlan’s role as the leader of the media empire, putting to rest questions of succession within the Murdoch family. The executive change coincides with the annual meeting of shareholders for Fox and News Corp in mid-November.
DIFFICULTIES AHEAD
Media watchers warn that Lachlan takes over the Murdoch empire at a moment when the media industry faces challenges ranging from a decline in traditional television viewership to news organizations battling tech giants over alleged copyright theft in the age of artificial intelligence.
Earlier this year, Murdoch senior scrapped a plan that would have reunited his media empire by merging Fox and News Corp after several top shareholders said it would fail to realize the full value of the company.
As the top leader of the empire his father founded, Lachlan Murdoch already had a busy agenda, including legal battles.
Fox News settled a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million, averting a trial in which the Murdochs and Fox executives and hosts were expected to testify.
Soon after, top host Tucker Carlson was among Fox News staffers forced out of the network.
The trial would have put Fox in the crosshairs over its amplification of false vote-rigging claims in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Legal experts quoted by Reuters news agency said the settlement was the largest ever struck by an American media company.
MASSIVE LAWSUIT
Yet Fox News still faces a lawsuit from voting technology firm Smartmatic, which in 2021 sued the broadcaster for $2.7 billion over similar claims.
There are also shareholder lawsuits accusing Fox Corp officers and directors of breaching their duties by allowing the company to become mired in defamation claims.
Despite the controversies, “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 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 political environment, and other properties similarly impacted other territories,” he claimed in Reuters news agency.
Yet Fox News continues to be the number one U.S. cable news network, data shows.
It is influential in U.S. politics, particularly among Republicans who prize Fox’s conservative-leaning audience, including many Christians.
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