Murdochs scrap potential News Corp and Fox combination; ‘not optimal for shareholders’
News Corp has told investors it has pulled its proposal to combine the company with Fox Corporation after its chairman, Rupert Murdoch and co-chairman, Lachlan Murdoch deemed it bad timing for shareholders.
In an announcement on the Nasdaq from its board of directors, the statement said that a letter was received from Rupert Murdoch, indicating that both he and son had “determined that a combination is not optimal for shareholders of News Corp and Fox at this time”.
“As a result of this action, the special committee of the board of directors of News Corp has been dissolved. The board would like to express its appreciation for the Special Committee’s efforts on this matter.”
The proposal for the merger was first put forward in October last year, at the request of Murdoch Senior and the Murdoch family trust.
In 2013, News Corporation split its business, creating the new News Corp, retaining the publishing assets globally, while 21st Century Fox retained its film and television assets. Following the sale of its film assets to Disney in 2019, the remaining assets then became Fox Corp.
Rupert Murdoch is the current chairman of Fox Corp, and executive chairman of News Corp, while his son Lachlan Murdoch is the executive chairman and CEO of Fox, and co-chairman of News Corp.
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Calum Jaspan was news editor at Mumbrella, based in Melbourne. He was also the producer and host of the Mumbrellacast. He left Mumbrella in May 2023.
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