Back in September, it was announced that Rupert Murdoch will be stepping down as the head of Fox and News Corp. He has run the company since 1979, when it was first News Corporation, and has led it ever since. Originally reported to happen in mind November but now the Financial Times reports that the change in leadership will happen this week.
Rupert Murdoch will be appointed as chairman Emeritus at both Fox Corp. and News Corp at an Annual General Meeting of Shareholders for 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.
“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 at the time of the announcment. “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.”
Here is how Fox describes Mr. Murdoch’s career at the company:
Mr. Murdoch was Executive Chairman of 21st Century Fox, one of the leading portfolios of cable, broadcast, film, pay TV and satellite assets, from 2015 to the closing of the merger of 21st Century Fox and The Walt Disney Company in March 2019. Mr. Murdoch served as CEO of 21st Century Fox from its inception as News Corporation in 1979 until 2015 and as its Chairman from 1991 to 2015.
This all comes at a time when how people watch TV is changing. Now Lachlan Murdoch will have to lead the company through the ever-changing world of cord cutting.