Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch, 92, announced on Thursday he is stepping down as chair of Fox Corp. and executive chairman of News Corp., Fox News has reported.
Murdoch’s son, Lachlan Murdoch, will become chairman of both companies as the elder Murdoch transitions out of the roles in November.
“I am truly proud of what we have achieved collectively through the decades, and I owe much to my colleagues, whose contributions to our success have sometimes been unseen outside the company but are deeply appreciated by me,” Murdoch wrote in a letter to colleagues.
“For my entire professional life, I have been engaged daily with news and ideas, and that will not change. But the time is right for me to take on different roles, knowing that we have truly talented teams and a passionate, principled leader in Lachlan who will become sole chairman of both companies,” he said.
Murdoch also said he was in good health and that his family remains committed to the cause of freedom of speech and thought.
“I congratulate my father on his remarkable 70-year career,” said Lachlan Murdoch. “We thank him for his vision, his pioneering spirit, his steadfast determination, and the enduring legacy he leaves to the companies he founded and countless people he has impacted.”
According to Fox News, Rupert Murdoch’s father, Sir Keith Murdoch, ran News Limited, an Australian public corporation, until 1954, when his father handed it down to him when he was in his mid-20s. After that, Rupert Murdoch bought Australian newspapers and then went internationally, eventually buying and creating several U.K. and U.S. newspapers, magazines, television assets, and Twentieth Century Fox.
Murdoch launched Fox Broadcasting Co. in 1986. Today, Fox News Channel has surpassed all other cable news networks and has become the most-watched cable news network for the past 30 months, according to ratings data compiled by Nielsen.
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