CNN and the New York Times are collaborating on a multipart documentary series about Rupert Murdoch, according to people familiar with the matter, turning a lens on one of the most influential media executives of the past half-century.
CEO Robert Thomson — a vocal critic of AI firms that have effectively stolen content from news organizations to train chatbots that produce “rubbish” — said “crucial negotiations are at an advanced stage” as prominent media firms seek fair compensation for their copyrighted works. Thomson said News Corp. believes “courtship is preferable to courtrooms” to solve the hotly debated issue.
News Corp announced Arthur Bochner, a communications veteran who spent nearly a decade at Disney before exiting in 2022, will become chief communications officer and executive VP. Bochner takes over the role from Jim Kennedy, who joined the company in 2013 and is set to retire later this year.
What the Fox and News Corp. mogul’s transition to the chairman emeritus roles means for 2024 election coverage, a possible recombination of the two companies — and his son Lachlan’s reign.
Even now, in his emeritus status, he will continue to offer counsel to his successor, son Lachlan Murdoch. And the elder Mr. Murdoch indicated in a statement to employees that he intended to be active in providing that counsel. But the announcement was nonetheless potentially epochal, marking at least the formal end to an active career during which the senior Murdoch built the most important and politically influential media empire on the planet. His companies, infused with a brand of right-wing populism, have amassed the power to shape, and at times make or break, presidents and prime ministers.
Rupert Murdoch becomes chairman emeritus of the companies, effective in November.
Ervin Duggan and William Kristol join effort challenging renewal application of Fox O&O WTXF Philadelphia.
Exclusives
News Corp. and Fox Corp., both controlled by Rupert Murdoch, have abandoned a potential merger after a special committee determined that “a combination is not optimal for shareholders.” Multiple shareholders in the companies had expressed their opposition to the merger in recent months. Murdoch officially notified the boards of both companies that the merger proposal was being withdrawn.
The top job in the Murdoch media empire will go to Rebekah Brooks, with insiders saying she will take the reins of a remarried News Corp. and Fox Corp. if and when the much talked-about deal is complete. Brooks is now positioned to take over for Robert Thomson, the current CEO of News Corp., who is expected to step aside on completion of the merger, people familiar with the matter say.
In a major boost to the Midtown office market, Fox and News Corp signed separate leases to extend their headquarters commitments at 1211 Sixth Ave. through 2042. The leases total nearly 1.2 million square feet in the 44-story, 2 million square-foot tower between West 47th and 48th streets.
News Corp. today named veteran U.K. journalist Emma Tucker as the next editor in chief of The Wall Street Journal, succeeding Matt Murray, who oversaw significant digital growth and guided the news organization through the Covid-19 pandemic. Tucker, 56, will assume her new position on Feb. 1, the company said. Murray, also 56, will work with her during a transition period until March 1. He will then continue in a senior position at News Corp, where he will work on new projects and report to Chief Executive Robert Thomson.
Rupert Murdoch and the Murdoch Family Trust will not vote in favor of a Fox-News Corp. merger unless the combination has the blessing of special committees of outside directors, and of non-Murdoch affiliated stockholders. The boards of both companies issued statements Tuesday in an “update on the process in response to recent inquiries.” Special committees began exploring a recombination of the two companies last month at Murdoch’s request, prompting some blowback by some outside investors who don’t think it’s in the best interests of either.
A London-based investor in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and Fox Corp. has reportedly expressed its opposition to the companies’ potential reunification. Independent Franchise Partners is one of the largest shareholders apart from the Murdoch family, with stakes in Fox and News Corp. of more than 7%. The companies confirmed several weeks ago they were formally considering a potential merger, bringing assets like Fox News, the Fox broadcast network, The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones back under a single umbrella.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is exploring a re-combination of the family’s Fox Corp. and News Corp., which split into two separate companies nearly a decade ago. The boards of directors of both have set up committees to examine the possibility. News Corp. said Friday afternoon that its board, at the request of Rupert Murdoch and the Murdoch Family Trust, has formed a special committee “composed of independent and disinterested members of the board” to begin exploring a combination.
News Corp. suffered a “persistent cyberattack” in January, the company said Friday, and investigators believe Chinese spies may be responsible. The media conglomerate, whose publications include the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, said the hack targeted one of its IT providers and that the attackers succeeded in stealing some unspecified data.
The New York-based media company narrowed its net loss to $14 million, or 2 cents a share, from the year-earlier $397 million, or 67 cents a share. Revenue grew to $2.49 billion.
News Corp. shuttered its the aggregation site Knewz today, just 18 months after its launch. Users who navigated to the site found an announcement declaring, “Knewz is no more.”
With a channel said to be not financially viable, the company will focus on producing streaming video content. David Rhodes will leave his consultant role at News UK, but keep advising the parent company.
Houghton Mifflin said the sale will allow it to focus on its K-12 education business, with schools re-opening as the coronavirus pandemic appears to be winding down.
The deal with News Corp follows a standoff over legislation passed by the Australian government to compensate publishers.
News Corp. this morning announced what it described as a “historic” three-year deal with Google, ensuring it will receive “significant payments” from the search giant for its news sites’ content worldwide, including Australia. While terms of the deal were not disclosed, the announcement comes as Google faces a potential stalemate with Australia, which recently passed a new law requiring Google to negotiate fair payment for news it distributes from publishers Down Under.
James Murdoch resigned from the board of News Corp. on Friday due to “disagreements” over “certain editorial content,” according to a letter he sent to the board.
David Rhodes, a 12-year veteran of Fox News who also held executive roles at CBS News and Bloomberg, has begin doing consultant work on “video projects” for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. in the U.K. That has led to speculation that Rhodes could return to Fox News in some capacity.
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp said Monday that it has agreed to sell London-based programmatic video advertising platform Unruly to Israel-based, London-listed Tremor International. News Corp will not get any cash, but a 6.91% stake in Tremor under the proposed deal.
The Wall Street Journal reports that News Corp. has reached a deal to let Facebook feature headlines from The Wall Street Journal and other Dow Jones media properties, as well as the New York Post, in the social media giant’s coming news section, the companies said. Journal subscribers can read the full story here.
The Wall Street Journal reports that News Corp is developing a news-aggregation service, Knewz.com, meant to address concerns that Google News and other digital platforms don’t reward publishers’ work adequately and play down articles from certain types of sites. Journal subscribers can read the full story here.
Rupert Murdoch, the 88-year-old billionaire media mogul, is recovering after a bout with pneumonia, two people familiar with the matter told CNN Business. One of the people, a person close to Murdoch’s family, said the pneumonia occurred nearly three weeks ago. The second person and a third person familiar with the matter added that he had gone to a Los Angeles hospital. It is unclear whether he was admitted.
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority issued a preliminary ruling Tuesday that 21st Century Fox’s planned $16.3 billion takeover of satellite service Sky plc isn’t in the public interest because it would give Rupert Murdoch and his family too much control over the country’s news media. The Competition and Markets Authority’s decision will be finalized by May 1, when the regulator will send its report to the secretary of state for culture, media and sport, who will make a final decision on the deal.
News Corp is taking aim at the digital-ad dominance of Google and Facebook with a new platform to let advertisers reach audiences across all of its online properties. The new platform, called News IQ, will pull audience data from sites like The Wall Street Journal, New York Post and Barron’s and give advertisers a way to reach specific audiences around safe content.
Google’s pain may be Rupert Murdoch’s gain. Murdoch’s News Corp. is introducing a new service to ensure online ads don’t appear next to fake news or offensive videos, marking the latest salvo in the billionaire media mogul’s long battle with the world’s biggest search engine. News Corp.’s Storyful unit, which filters through the firehose of social media for publishers and brands, will track websites known as purveyors of fake news or extremist content and share that list with advertisers, who can use it to keep ads from appearing in controversial places.
