LOS ANGELES & NEW YORK—Fox Corporation and News Corporation have announced that Rupert Murdoch will be stepping down as chairman of each board.
Following a career that began nearly 70 years ago in 1954, Murdoch will step down as chairman and be appointed chairman emeritus Fox Corporation as of the upcoming Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of each company in mid-November.
Following the Annual General Meetings, Lachlan Murdoch will become sole chair of News Corp and continue as executive chair and chief executive officer of Fox Corporation, the companies reported.
“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,” said Lachlan Murdoch. “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. We are grateful that he will serve as Chairman Emeritus and know he will continue to provide valued counsel to both companies.”
During his career, Murdoch founded Fox as the fourth broadcast network in the U.S. as well as such popular cable networks as Fox News and FX. His companies became the dominant pay TV operator in the U.K. with Sky. and launched large satellite pay TV operations in the U.S., Latin America and various European markets.
The Murdoch families continue to control Fox and News Corp. and Lachlan Murdoch had been tipped in recent years as the most likely successor to his father.
A timeline of Rupert Murdoch’s career is available at www.foxcorporation.com/rupert-murdoch.
