Who will take over Fox Corp and Fox News with Rupert Murdoch stepping down?
After decades at the helm, Rupert Murdoch announced on Thursday that he would be stepping down as chairman of Fox Corporation and News Corp.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch announced on Thursday that he would be stepping down as chairman of Fox and News Corp. The Australian-born 92-year-old billionaire, who got his start in the newspaper business in the 1950s, built an international media empire that includes the No. 1 cable news channel in the United States.
Murdoch became known as a political kingmaker for aiding Thatcher, Reagan, Blair, Cameron, and Trump reach the highest echelons of power also helped shape political discourse across the nation. With his retiring from one of the most influential media organizations and the crown jewel in his empire, there are questions about what direction the companies will take with his son Lachlan Murdoch.
The network and News Corp came under fire for giving airtime and pushing former President Trump’s debunked election fraud theories. That dubious reporting landed Fox in court facing a $1.6 billion lawsuit for defaming Dominion Voting Systems for knowingly lying about their voting machines stealing the 2020 presidential election.
The companies settled, with Fox paying Dominion $787.5 million, to avoid the Murdochs from having to take the stand to testify. Prior to the scheduled court date, damning emails and text messages between Fox News personalities led the judge in the case to rule that none of the network’s statements against Dominion were true.
The network said at the time that it hoped resolving the dispute “amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward from these issues.”
Fox is still facing another lawsuit on the same grounds from another company Smartmatic which is suing for $2.7 billion in damages.
Who will take over Fox Corp and Fox News with Rupert Murdoch stepping down?
“For my entire professional life, I have been engaged daily with news and ideas, and that will not change. But the time is right for me to take on different roles, knowing that we have truly talented teams,” Murdoch wrote in a memo to employees.
His 52-year-old son Lachlan Murdoch will continue as CEO and executive chairman Fox Corp and take over as sole chairman of News Corp. His father says that Lachlan is “a passionate, principled leader.” He has reportedly criticized Trump in private conversations with sources telling CNN that he thinks it would be bad for the country if he were to run for president again.