On September 21, 2023, Rupert Murdoch announced that he was stepping down as the chairman of Fox Corp, effective November 2023.[13]
History
The company name traces back through a series of mergers and demergers to the Fox Film Corporation founded by William Fox on February 1, 1915.[14]
Formation
On December 14, 2017 The Walt Disney Company announced its intent to acquire the motion picture, cable entertainment, and direct broadcast satellite divisions of 21st Century Fox (the former News Corporation, which spun off its publishing assets in 2013), including 20th Century Fox and FX Networks, for $52.4 billion. The remainder of the company would form a so-called "New Fox", maintaining control of assets such as Fox's television network and broadcast stations (which Disney, already owning ABC, would be legally unable to own due to an FCC policy known as the "dual network rule", which prohibits mergers between the top broadcast networks), Fox News, the national operations of Fox Sports, and the 20th Century Fox studio lot, which would be leased to Disney for seven years. Fox's regional sports networks were also included in the sale, but were later divested by order of the Department of Justice, on the grounds that the Fox regional networks' combination with Disney's 80% ownership of ESPN would make Disney too dominant in the cable sports market.[15][16][17][18][19]
In mid-2018 NBCUniversal's parent company Comcast instigated bidding wars over both the Fox assets Disney planned to purchase, and the British broadcaster Sky plc (a company that 21st Century Fox held a stake in, and was planning to acquire the remainder). In July 2018, Fox agreed to an increase of Disney's offer to $71.3 billion to fend off Comcast's counter-bid.[20][21] British regulators ordered that a blind auction be held for Sky's assets, which was won by Comcast.[22]
On October 10, 2018, it was reported that in preparation for the impending completion of the sale, the new, post-merger organizational structure of "New Fox" would be implemented by January 1, 2019.[5] On November 14, 2018, it was revealed that the new independent company will maintain the original Fox name.[23] On January 7, 2019, Fox Corporation's registration statement was filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.[24]
On January 11, 2019, Fox stated in a securities filing that it had no plans to bid on its former regional sports networks;[7] they would instead go to a consortium led by Sinclair Broadcast Group, with Fox Corp continuing to license the FSN name to those stations until Sinclair developed a new brand (the networks would eventually become Bally Sports).[25] On March 12, 2019, Disney announced that the sale would be completed by March 20, 2019.[26] On March 19, 2019, Fox Corp officially began trading on the S&P 500, replacing 21st Century Fox on the index.[9] Republican politician and former Speaker of the HousePaul Ryan also joined Fox Corp's board at this time.[3]
Under the terms of the acquisition, Disney will phase out the Fox brand usage by 2024.[27]
Operations
Fox Corp began operating separately on March 19, 2019.[3] Chairman and CEO Lachlan Murdoch led a town hall meeting three days later, indicating that stock would be issued to the corporation's employees based on longevity.[28]
In May 2019 via the Fox Sports division, Fox Corp acquired a 4.99% stake in Canadian online gambling operator The Stars Group for $236 million. As a result, it was also announced that the companies would co-develop sports betting products for the U.S. market under the branding Fox Bet.[29]
In early July 2019, Fox Entertainment announced the formation of SideCar, with executives led by Gail Berman. SideCar was a content development unit for Fox and other outlets.[30] In June 2020, SideCar was shut down by Fox.[31]
On April 20, 2020, Fox Corp acquired streaming service Tubi for $440 million.[35][36]
In September 2021, Fox Corp acquired TMZ from WarnerMedia in a deal worth about $50 million, with TMZ being operated under the Fox Entertainment division.[37]
In September 2022, Fox Corp announced the launch of Fox Entertainment Studios. This is the company's first venture into entirely in-house television production. The studio debuted its first show, Monarch, on September 11, 2022.[40] Fox also announced that Fox Entertainment would re-enter the international distribution business by launching a sales unit called Fox Entertainment Global.[41]
On October 14, 2022, it was announced that, under the instruction of Rupert Murdoch, a special committee had been established to explore a potential merger of Fox and News Corp, bringing the two companies back together since the former 21st Century Fox was spun-off from News Corp in 2013.[42] Although Lachlan Murdoch supported his father in the proposal, James Murdoch opposed it, as did many shareholders.[43] On January 24, 2023, the proposed merger was abandoned by Murdoch.[44][45]
In April 2023, Fox announced it would be forming Tubi Media Group. This would be a standalone digital business unit, encompassing Tubi, Credible Labs, Blockchain Creative Labs, along with several other Fox digital sports, news and entertainment platforms[46] and teams, in which Paul Cheesbrough was announced as CEO.[47][needs update]
In September 2024 Rupert Murdoch applied to a Nevada probate court to remove voting rights from his children other than Lachlan, as set out in the irrevocable family trust. The other siblings, Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch, and James Murdoch, are more moderate politically than their father or brother, and Rupert was keen to keep the conservative political bias in his media outlets. On December 9, 2024, The New York Times reported that the court had ruled against Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, who, the probate commissioner wrote, had acted in bad faith when trying to change the trust.[48][49]
