Rupert Murdoch becomes chairman emeritus of Fox Corporation and News Corp. Mike Segar / REUTERS
The succession of the Australian-American billionaire at the head of Fox Corporation and News Corp has fascinated commentators around the world for 30 years. He takes on the role of chairman emeritus of both companies.
A page is turning for Rupert Murdoch, who has just celebrated his 92nd birthday. In an internal memo sent to his teams, the iconic Australian-American media mogul announced that he was handing over to his eldest son Lachlan, 52, at the head of his empire. “I am writing to let you all know that I have decided to take on the role of Chairman Emeritus of Fox Corporation and News Corp“, he explained in an email this Thursday.
“Throughout my professional life I have been involved in the creation of information and ideas on a daily basis, this will not change. But the time has come for me to occupy other positions. Lachlan will become the sole chairman of both companies», Specified Rupert Murdoch. The News Corp entity notably owns the newspapers The Wall Street Journal, The TimesTHE New York Post and the tabloid The Sunas well as the HarperCollins publishing group, while Fox Corporation is home to the Fox News Channel.
An estate that inspired an HBO series
For around thirty years, the billionaire’s succession has fascinated commentators around the world. The story between the patriarch and his children, Lachlan, James, Elisabeth and Prudence, even inspired the writers of the hit television series “Succession» (HBO)… Designated as the official successor, Lachlan is today the last of the siblings to still work alongside his father. In his email to employees, Rupert Murdoch assured that his health was still “robust“.
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The businessman who launched into the press in the 1950s, became one of Hollywood’s emblematic executives in 1985 when he bought Twentieth Century Fox from oilman Marvin Davis for the tidy sum of 600 millions of dollars. By 1986, Murdoch had entered the television business after purchasing several American television networks and creating Fox Broadcasting. The Fox News channel was launched ten years later with the ambition of competing with CNN. Over the years, it eventually became the number one cable news channel in the United States and a bastion of Republican arguments.