As the Murdoch tabloid navigates a fraught political moment, high-level editors instructed reporters not to base articles on reporting by four news outlets that President Trump has falsely labeled “fake news.”
The man who helped create Fox News as the most influential platform for conservative politics in America fully expects that Biden will win — and frankly isn’t too bothered by that.
President Trump’s influential supporter Rupert Murdoch is telling close associates he believes Joe Biden will win the election in a landslide. The Australian-born billionaire is disgusted by Trump’s handling of COVID-19, remarking that the president is his own worst enemy, that he is not listening to advice about how best to handle the pandemic, and that he’s creating a never-ending crisis for his administration, according to three people who have spoken with Murdoch.
Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, the overseers of the Fox Corp. media conglomerate their family controls, saw their annual compensation fall for the most recent fiscal year in large part due to executives’ decision to give up salary between May and September as the company grappled with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
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.
Exclusives
In fiscal 2019, a period when the shape of the Murdoch media empire was transformed due to the sale to Disney of most of 21st Century Fox, Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch saw their total compensation from Fox Corp. decline.
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.
When advertisers rebelled at outrage anchors like Jeanine Pirro and Tucker Carlson, Trump called Lachlan’s daddy, Rupert Murdoch, to keep them on the air. Inside the battle for the future of the network.
Part 1: Imperial Reach — Murdoch and his children have toppled governments on two continents and destabilized the most important democracy on Earth. What do they want? Part 2: Internal Divisions — Trump’s election made the Murdoch family more powerful than ever. But the bitter struggle between James and Lachlan threatened to tear the company apart. Part 3: The New Fox Weapon — What was left after the Disney deal was not a sprawling media empire that contained all Rupert’s ambitions, but a political weapon.
Thirty-four years ago, Rupert Murdoch showed up in Hollywood with $250 million, buying a stake in the 20th Century Fox film studio – even though he had little interest in making movies. The scrappy Australian newsman, then known for his clamorous tabloids, was viewed with suspicion. Skeptics assumed he was a corporate raider intent on stripping value from the studio. Instead, Murdoch rescued a threadbare operation from financial ruin and turned it into the centerpiece of a growing empire that has reshaped the entertainment industry. Now, Murdoch is dismantling his life’s work: a kingdom worth more than $100 billion.
For years, everyone in the industry loved to debate which of Murdoch’s three adult children from his second marriage — James, Lachlan, or Elisabeth — would ultimately assume the throne of their father’s vast empire. While the huge Disney sale has put to bed that question for a simple reason — instead of a globe-girdling empire, the Murdoch heirs are about to inherit a war chest — it also raises a new one: What will they do with all that money?
When 21st Century Fox and Disney each bring shareholders together in New York on Friday to vote on whether the companies should merge, the two people who struck the $71.3 billion deal — Rupert Murdoch and Robert A. Iger — will not be in attendance. But it’s no big deal. Although required by law, the vote is perfunctory at this point.
Rupert Murdoch’s decision to sell much of his company could be viewed as a surrender, or it might turn out to be his most deft move yet, the one where he saves his company, and fortifies his family fortune.
Rupert Murdoch on Monday called on Facebook to pay “trusted” news publishers a carriage fee, similar to the model used by cable companies. His remarks come days after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the social media company would prioritize “trustworthy” news in its feed by identifying high-quality outlets and fight misinformation.
Rupert Murdoch’s decision to sell most of 21st Century Fox has many wondering what the future holds for him and the two sons who seemed on the cusp of taking over his vast empire.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Rupert Murdoch’s decision to sell the Twentieth Century Fox studio to Walt Disney while retaining the Fox broadcast network, has raised fears in Hollywood about the company’s commitment to entertainment programming, and created uncertainty about the network’s stability and future. Journal subscribers can read the full story here.
Disney-Fox Is A Lousy Deal For Consumers
Can anyone with even the most nominal understanding of these businesses argue that having one company own the ESPN channel group along with the Fox regional sports channels would be good for consumers and competition?
Disney Deal May Be Murdoch’s Last Hurrah
Rather than the foundation of a bold new venture, in his call with analysts yesterday Rupert Murdoch talked about “New Fox” as if it would be a nice annuity for shareholders. He and his sons could surprise me by marshalling their great wealth and launching a new offensive on the media status quo, but I’m not betting on it.
The 86-year-old media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his family would emerge as the single largest individual shareholders in Disney once the proposed $66 billion deal for 21st Century Fox’s film and television assets closes. Only the mutual fund Vanguard would have more significant holdings in the Burbank media giant. The Murdochs stand to receive nearly 88 million Disney shares in the all-stock deal, based on the number of Fox shares he and his family trust reported in regulatory filings.
Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch says if his post-divestiture company adds more stations, “it will give us greater strength in getting clearances. We will be in a mood to expand and do new things. And we will have the ability.”
If the media reports are to believed, Murdoch and his sons James and Lachlan, who are top executives at his companies, have decided that the original content business has gotten too expensive for them. With Netflix planning to spend $8 billion in 2018 on original programming, Amazon.com’s $4.5 billion spending plan, and Apple’s $1 billion budget, it’s easy to understand their misgivings, particularly given the underperformance of 20th Century Fox in both TV production and at the box office this year.
A shareholder proposal calling for 21st Century Fox Inc to do away with its dual-class share structure may inflict a symbolic black eye on the media company’s founder Rupert Murdoch and his family at its annual meeting on Wednesday.
Rupert Murdoch is one of the most driven moguls in media, defying the odds for more than a half-century to build a global media empire from a small newspaper in Australia. So many people were startled to learn the 86-year-old tycoon and his sons appear willing to sell some of their prized 21st Century Fox media assets.
Rupert Murdoch telephoned AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson twice in the last six months and talked about cable network CNN, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters. According to one of the sources, the 86-year-old executive chairman of Twenty-First Century Fox offered to buy CNN in both conversations. Another source said Murdoch had “zero interest” in owning CNN.
Everyone knows the president hates CNN — but Trump’s Fox News ally also has multiple bones to pick with the proposed deal.
The annual compensation for all three of 21st Century Fox’s Murdochs — Rupert, Lachlan and James — fell in the most recent fiscal year, according to a company SEC filing. Rupert Murdoch’s compensation as executive co-chairman dipped from $34.6 million in FY 2016 to $29.3 million. His son Lachlan, also executive co-chairman, made $20.6 million, down from $23.7 million. CEO James dipped from $26.4 million to $20.3 million.
At a recent dinner at the White House with Jared Kushner and John Kelly, before President Trump decamped for a working vacation at his private golf club in Bedminster, N.J., the president listened while one of the guests, Rupert Murdoch, a founder of Fox News, said Steve Bannon had to go. Trump offered little pushback, according to a person familiar with the conversation, and vented his frustrations about Bannon. Murdoch is close to Kushner, who has been in open warfare with Bannon since the spring.
Fox News Channel unveiled plans for a new centralized studio as well as the hiring of additional journalists and content creators, a sign the 21st Century Fox-owned outlet is working to move forward after several weeks of tumult. During a company-wide address to staffers Wednesday, 21st Century Fox Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch described plans for a centralized newsroom slated for completion in 2018. The new facility will be designed to spark communication among employer teams devoted to programming, news and digital.
Murdoch Ambitions Hang In The Balance
Rupert Murdoch and his sons have spent nearly a year trying to clean up the sexual harassment controversies at Fox News. Now comes the hard part.
The Trump era has opened with the promise of a White House foothold for media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch has told close associates that the nation’s 45th president calls to confer frequently — as often as multiple times a week — and that he has visited the White House to meet with Trump more than once.
News Corp. paid executive chairman Rupert Murdoch $5.3 million in 2015, according to SEC filings made Wednesday by the company that houses the Wall Street Journal and HarperCollins as well as UK newspaper assets and cable networks like Foxtel and Fox Sports Australia.
21st Century Fox Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch saw his annual compensation rise almost 25% compared with fiscal-year 2015, with a total package of $34.6 million. He made $27.9 million in 2015, when he also was CEO. His son James Murdoch, in his first year as the new CEO, was at $26.4 million. That’s a big bump from a year ago’s $15.1 million.
Now that Roger Ailes is out at Fox News Channel, what’s life like at the No. 1 cable news network? Well, there’s a lot of Rupert Murdoch, the News Corp. boss who took over after Ailes was forced out last month following a sexual harassment scandal. However, major strategic decisions are being kicked down the road until after the November election.
