Rupert Murdoch to step down as chairman of Fox, News Corps.

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Media mogul Rupert Murdoch will step down as chairman of both News Corp. and Fox Corp. by November, the company announced Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023.

Murdoch, who is 92, will become chairman emeritus of both companies. It’s not immediately clear how involved he might be with day-to-day operations.

No change in his holdings in company stock was announced, so Murdoch will presumably still remain a majority shareholder.

One of Rupert’s sons, Lachlan Murdoch, will become the sole chairman of News Corp. and will continue in his role as Fox Corp.’s executive chair and CEO.

The elder Murdoch’s departure comes after a bumpy year for Fox Corp. in particular, after its right-leaning commentary channel agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle a defamation suit brought by a voting technology company. Fallout from that has been widely blamed for the network firing Tucker Carlson, one of its biggest stars. Prior to that, the network has been rocked by a series of alleged sexual misconduct scandals.

News Corp. and Fox Corp. were formed after the company opted to split its TV and newspaper assets into separate entities. Originally known as 21st Century Fox, many of that division’s assets were later sold to Walt Disney.