Rupert Murdoch, perhaps the most important media owner of his generation, will step down as chairman of Fox, the company he founded nearly seven decades ago, later this year.
Murdoch ,92, will transition to the role of 'chairman emeritus' after the company's next annual meeting in November, Fox said Thursday, with his son Lachlan becoming sole chairman of News Corp. as well as executive chairman and CEO of Fox.
Murdoch began building a global news media empire when he inherited his father's newspaper business in Adelaide, Australia in 1954. He subsequently expanded to Britain, buying the Sun and News of the World tabloid newspapers in 1969, and later acquiring several U.S. titles including the New York Post, New York Magazine and The Village Voice.
His interests expanded into television and broadcasting in 1983 with the creation of Satellite Business System, which would eventually become British Sky Broadcasting, before taking ownership of Twentieth Century Fox in 1985 and creating the Fox Broadcasting Company the following year.
"On behalf of the FOX and News Corp boards of directors, leadership teams, and all the shareholders who have benefited from his hard work, I congratulate my father on his remarkable 70-year career," Lachlan Murdoch said in a prepared statement.
"We thank him for his vision, his pioneering spirit, his steadfast determination, and the enduring legacy he leaves to the companies he founded and countless people he has impacted," he added. "We are grateful that he will serve as Chairman Emeritus and know he will continue to provide valued counsel to both companies."
Fox shares were marked 1.44% higher in early trading immediately following the announcement of Murdoch's retirement to change hands at $31.57 each. News Corp shares, meanwhile, slipped 0.2% to $20.38 each.
Murdoch senior's departure from his media empire also comes just months after Fox News Media agreed to pay $787.5 billion to settle a defamation suit brought by Dominion Voting Systems, which alleged the broadcaster had deliberately spread misinformation that linked the voting machines and technology company to false election-rigging claims made by prominent Republican lawmakers, including President Donald Trump.
In a statement following the Dominion deal, Fox said that "we acknowledge the Court's rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false", adding that the settlement "reflects FOX's continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards."
Depositions in the case, however, unearthed a series of private communications between star host Tucker Carlson, who left the network shortly after the settlement and his colleagues, one of which indicating that the presenter "passionately" hated the former President.
Merger plans scrapped
Earlier this year, Rupert Murdoch scrapped plans to merge Fox and News Corp following criticism from key shareholders.
Murdoch said last October that the two media groups have formed 'special committees' to "thoroughly evaluate a potential combination". Key shareholders pushed back against the deal
However, the Murdoch Family Trust then said it would only support the tie-up if it was approved by a "majority vote of the shares held by non-affiliated stockholders entitled to vote."
Murdoch said then said in a January a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that "he and Lachlan K. Murdoch have determined that a combination is not optimal for the shareholders of FOX and News Corp at this time."
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