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The Future. Influential and controversial news and media mogul Rupert Murdoch is abdicating the thrones at News Corp. and Fox Corp. His son, Lachlan, who has very similar views as his father, will now wear the crown. But it could be short-lived. When Rupert eventually passes away, his majority voting shares will be equally divided among his four oldest children, who could (and most likely will) push out Lachlan. That power vacuum could start a new ideological chapter for the organizations.
News dynasty
After decades of running News Corp. and Fox Corp. (in its many iterations), Rupert Murdoch is stepping down.
- Lachlan Murdoch, who’s been CEO of Fox Corp. since it became a new entity after selling its entertainment units to Disney in 2019, will become the chair of both companies.
- Rupert will be appointed the chair emeritus of both firms, meaning he’ll still have an outsized influence in the organizations.
Lachlan, the eldest boy of the Murdoch clan who’s been an on-and-off executive at the companies since 1997, will take charge of an empire mostly comprised of live television news, sports, business data and services, and the Tubi streaming service.
The question currently swirling around media circles is: “Why is Rupert stepping down now?” According to author Michael Wolff, whose new book, The Fall: The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty, comes out next week, one reason is to shield the 92-year-old from testifying in the upcoming Smartmatic case — a potentially very public display of his current state.
If he were still running News Corp. and Fox, that exposure could likely lead to a negative perception of his ability to run two giant, publicly-traded companies. Rupert probably doesn’t want to suffer a late-in-life Sumner Redstone news cycle.
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