(The Guardian) Murdoch retiring from media empire after 70+ years
Rupert Murdoch, the US global media magnate, is stepping down at 92 from the business empire he started expanding in his native Australia at the age of 21, it was announced on Thursday.
In a note to staff first reported in the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal, he wrote: “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.”
After decades of wrangling and the smash-hit television drama series Succession that appeared to mirror all too closely the power struggles of the Murdoch business clan, one of the most powerful media and, by extension, political figures of the 20th and 21st centuries is handing over the keys to his eldest son Lachlan.
Murdoch’s publicly-traded company News Corp, headquartered in New York, owns hundreds of local, national and international news outlets. In the US the company owns the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, a conservative-leaning tabloid. Also book publisher HarperCollins. In the UK he owns the dailies The Sun and The Times and owned the now-defunct News of the World weekly scandal sheet. He is famous/infamous for union-busting in the 1980s and influence over and secret deal-making with Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
In Australia, News Corp owns The Daily Telegraph, the Herald Sun, and The Australian.
In the television business, News Corp also owns the US’s right-wing channel Fox News, through the Fox Corporation, and, down under, Sky News Australia. Murdoch was the owner of Britain’s Sky News until 2018 and the film company now called 21st Century Fox until 2019.
Forbes estimates Rupert Murdoch enjoys a net worth of US $21.7bn.
Rupert Murdoch, the US global media magnate, is stepping down at 92 from the business empire he started expanding in his native Australia at the age of 21, it was announced on Thursday.
In a note to staff first reported in the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal, he wrote: “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.”
After decades of wrangling and the smash-hit television drama series Succession that appeared to mirror all too closely the power struggles of the Murdoch business clan, one of the most powerful media and, by extension, political figures of the 20th and 21st centuries is handing over the keys to his eldest son Lachlan.
Murdoch’s publicly-traded company News Corp, headquartered in New York, owns hundreds of local, national and international news outlets. In the US the company owns the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, a conservative-leaning tabloid. Also book publisher HarperCollins. In the UK he owns the dailies The Sun and The Times and owned the now-defunct News of the World weekly scandal sheet. He is famous/infamous for union-busting in the 1980s and influence over and secret deal-making with Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
In Australia, News Corp owns The Daily Telegraph, the Herald Sun, and The Australian.
In the television business, News Corp also owns the US’s right-wing channel Fox News, through the Fox Corporation, and, down under, Sky News Australia. Murdoch was the owner of Britain’s Sky News until 2018 and the film company now called 21st Century Fox until 2019.
Forbes estimates Rupert Murdoch enjoys a net worth of US $21.7bn.
