Sales 2023: $ 24.800 billion (€ 22.930 billion)

Overview

In 2019, a large part of Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox went to the Disney Group for 71.3 billion dollars: the legendary film studio 20th Century Fox, TV channels, stakes in the Star India network and the streaming service Hulu. The rest became the Fox Corporation, or "New Fox": the Fox television network as well as news and sports channels, which continue to belong to the Murdoch family. As well as the publishing and magazine business of News Corp.

General Information

Headquarters:
1211 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
USA
Telephone: 001 212 4163400 (News Corp.) / 001 212 8527000 (Fox Corp.)
Internet: investor.newscorp.com / investor.foxcorporation.com

industryn: newspapers, magazines, book publishers, television channels, satellite TV, cable TV, Internet content
legal form: stock corporation
fiscal year: 01.07. – 30.06.
founding year: 1952, 2013 (split into News Corp. and 21^st Century Fox), 2019 (sales 21^st Century Fox, founding of Fox Corporation)

Economic Basics News Corp. (in million US$$)

	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018
Revenue	9.879	10.385	9.358	9.008	10.074	9.024
Profit (Loss)	149	623	330	(1.269)	155	(1.514)
Share price (in US$$, end of fiscal year)	24,55	18,20	22,31	17,97	14,40	11,77
Employees	25.000	25.500	24.000	23.500	28.000	28.000

Economic basic data Fox Corp. (in million US$$)

	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019
Revenue	14.913	13.974	12.909	12.303	11.389
Profit (Loss)	1.239	1.205	2.150	999	1.595
Share price (in US$$, end of fiscal year)	29,67	30,37	36,90	29,12	36,66
Employees	10.400	10.600	9.000	9.000	7.700

Executives and Directors

News Corp.

Management:

• Rupert Murdoch, Executive Chairman
• Lachlan Murdoch, Co-Chairman
• Robert Thomson, Chief Executive
• Susan Panuccio, Chief Financial Officer
• David Pitofsky, General Counsel
• Antoinette Bush, Global Head of Government Affairs
• Tracey Fellows, President, Global Digital Real Estate
• David Kline, Chief Technology Officer
• Antoinette Bush, Global Head of Government Affairs
• Anoushka Healy, Chief Strategy Officer
• Jim Kennedy, chief communications officer
• Dana Ritzcovan, Chief Human Resources Officer

 
Supervisory Board:

• Rupert Murdoch, News Corp
• Lachlan K. Murdoch, News Corp
• Peter L. Barnes, News Corp
• Ana Paula Pessoa, Kunumi AI
• Kelly Ayotte, Former United States Senator for the State of New Hampshire
• Masroor Siddiqui, Naya Capital Management UK Limited
• José María Aznar, President, Foundation for Social Studies and Analysis
  Former President of Spain
• Robert J. Thomson, News Corp
• Natalie Bancroft, News Corp

Fox Corporation

Management:

• Rupert Murdoch, Chairman
• Lachlan K. Murdoch, Executive Chairman and CEO
• John P. Nallen, Chief Operating Officer
• Viet D. Dinh, Chief Legal and Policy Officer
• Steve Tomsic, Chief Financial Officer
• Michael Biard, President of Operations and Distribution
• Paul Cheesebrough, Chief Technology Officer
• Joe Dorrego, Chief Investor Relations and EVP of Corporate Initiatives
• Marianne Gambelli, President of Advertising Sales
• Kevin Lord, EVP Human Resources
• Danny O'Brien, Executive Vice President, Head of Government Relations
• Jeff A. Taylor, Executive Vice President and Chief Litigation Counsel
• Brian Nick, Chief Communications Officer and Executive Vice President 

Supervisory Board:

• Rupert Murdoch
• Lachlan K. Murdoch
• William A. Burck, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP
• Chase Carey, Chairman of Formula 1
• Anne Dias
• Roland A. Hernandez
• Jacques Nasser 
• Paul D. Ryan, 54th Speaker of the US House of Representatives

History

The cradle of News Corporation was in Australia: after studying at Oxford and working as a junior reporter for the London Daily Mail, Rupert Murdoch, born in Melbourne in 1931, inherited the ailing Adelaide News from his father Keith Murdoch (1885-1952) in 1952. When the publisher of the all-powerful local rival wanted to take over the Adelaide News at a low price a short time later, the young Rupert showed his teeth for the first time and used a tactic that he was to repeat 40 years later with similarly resounding success on the British press market: he lowered the price. The competition was asleep, lost readers in droves and soon had to sell to Murdoch. In 1964 Murdoch founded the first national Australian daily newspaper; in 1968 he moved to Great Britain. Here he first bought the mass-circulation papers News of the World and The Sun, which he converted into conservative sensationalist titles. The Page Three Girl caused a sensation and is probably one of the reasons why Rupert has not received a knighthood to this day. Unlike his father, Sir Keith, who was knighted in 1933. Knight Bachelor and later during the war as Director-General of Information, he was responsible for press censorship in Australia.

In 1973, when Murdoch bought the San Antonio Express News, he first entered the US media market. The first high point of his US expansion was the takeover of the ailing New York Post in 1976, where Murdoch was also able to increase circulation considerably in a short space of time using the Sun tactic. The official birth of News Corporation was not until 1979. In 1980, Murdoch took over the London Times and the Sunday Times, his first quality newspapers of world renown, and later other newspapers in Australia and the USA were added. News Corp. remained a pure print company until 1986. With the takeover of the Twentieth Century Fox film studios, Murdoch entered the audiovisual field for the first time. Excluded from the American TV market as an Australo-Brit, Murdoch swore an oath to the American Constitution in 1986 and immediately bought six local TV stations as the nucleus of Fox Broadcasting, the first nationwide TV network since 1948. In 1989, Europe's first satellite television, Sky Television, went on air in Great Britain. After 18 months, Sky merged with the unsuccessful British Satellite Broadcasting to form BSkyB.

Despite its involvement in the film and television market, News Corp. also grew in the publishing sector. At the beginning of the 1990s, News Corp.'s huge TV activities almost broke its neck: 7.6 billion dollars in debt came due, some creditor banks became nervous and refused to restructure the debt. According to Murdoch biographer William Shawcross, News Corp. was on the verge of bankruptcy. Murdoch was saved by the revenue from "Home Alone", the Christmas blockbuster from Twentieth Century Fox. The warning had been heard, however, and News Corp. drastically limited new debt and ensured better cash flow in times of crisis. Murdoch was soon back on top and gradually took over the Asian satellite broadcaster Star TV from 1993. In addition, in 1994 he bought a 20 percent stake in the US broadcasting chain New World Communications, which in return connected its ten stations to the Fox network. In early 1996, Murdoch took over New World completely and launched his own news channel, Fox News, to compete with CNN.

On July 31, 2007, the Bancroft publishing family announced that they would accept Murdoch's offer to buy their newspaper company Dow Jones, which also publishes the renowned "Wall Street Journal". In order to allay the concerns of some members of the owner family that Murdoch could exert too much influence on the company's editorial staff, statements were made and assurances signed to prevent the News Corp. boss from exerting too much influence. A supervisory board with prominent members was also to monitor journalistic independence.

In the summer of 2011, News Corp. sold off the start-up MySpace, which it had acquired in 2005 for 580 million US dollars (at the time it was still the largest social network in the world). Initially, Murdoch believed that he would be able to resell MySpace for six billion at some point. After users began to flock to competitor Facebook due to technical weaknesses, internal leadership struggles and management errors, Murdoch also lost interest in MySpace. In July 2011, Myspace was sold for 35 million US dollars to a consortium consisting of the online advertising marketer Specific Media and the pop star Justin Timberlake.

The biggest scandal in the company's history was a wiretapping scandal at the tabloid newspaper "News of the World", which only became fully known in 2011. Since 1998, the newspaper had hired private detectives to hack into the mobile phones of British celebrities. Police officers were systematically bribed to obtain confidential information. The majority of the approximately 550 victims of the wiretapping reached an out-of-court settlement with News International in return for paying large sums (in total, News Corp. paid over a billion in damages). In July 2011, it also emerged that "News of the World" had hacked into the mobile phone of the missing (and then murdered) 13-year-old Milly Dowler in 2002, systematically obstructing police investigations. In addition, over 25 journalists at sister newspaper "The Sun" were arrested for bribery. Due to the enormous public pressure, Murdoch and his son James decided to take a radical step and shut down the 150-year-old newspaper. Despite the negative publicity, Murdoch's handling of the scandal must be considered a success. During the 2014 trial, the lawyers were able to maintain the image that the News Corp. executives knew nothing about all the illegal activities. Only the former deputy editor-in-chief and later spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron, Andy Coulson, was found guilty. Editor-in-chief and Murdoch confidante Rebekah Brooks, however, was acquitted. She returned to her old place of work in 2015 as head of News UK. 

In the summer of 2013, the split took place. News Corp. was split into two companies: a print and education arm (the new News Corporation) and a film and television group (21st Century Fox). On the one hand, according to Murdoch, the aim was to "unlock the true value of both companies and their different assets so that investors can benefit from the individual strategic opportunities that arise from more focused management of the individual business areas". On the other hand, it was certainly also about restoring the reputation that had been damaged after the "News of the World" scandal.

At the end of 2017, the Walt Disney Company confirmed its plan to take over Murdoch's rival studio 21st Century Fox (or a large part of it; it involved the 20th Century Fox film studio and pay TV channels such as FX Networks, Fox Sport Networks, and National Geographic Partners) for an initial price of $52.4 billion. In the summer of 2018, however, Comcast stepped in and increased the purchase offer to $65 billion. Disney went even higher, offering $71.3 billion, Comcast withdrew, and Disney won the bid. The process was completed in mid-2019, and the parts of 21st Century Fox that were not sold to Disney (the Fox Network, the Fox television stations, Fox News, Fox Sports) became Fox Corporation (or "New Fox"), which continues to be controlled by the Murdoch family.

management

Keith Rupert Murdoch
"The publisher who rules the world," was the headline of a Murdoch documentary in February 2021 in Der Spiegel. And under a photo of Donald Trump debating on TV, it says: "Murdoch ally Trump at a Fox News appearance: World order by Rupert's grace." According to biographer William Shawcross, the secret of Rupert Murdoch's success lies in his combination of the instincts of a gambler with puritanical discipline. As the "apostle of global communication," Murdoch reaches about 4.7 billion people, or about half the world's population, with his television stations, newspapers and magazines. The literature on Murdoch's rise reveals two opposing currents. Some authors, including Michael Wolff, author of arguably the most influential Murdoch biography, argue that Murdoch is still at heart the reporter he was at the beginning of his career as a local editor of an Australian newspaper. Murdoch, according to Wolff, upheld journalistic ideals such as constant curiosity and independent research and in this way became one of the most successful media entrepreneurs in the world.

Other journalists claim the opposite. For author Bruce Page, all News Corp. papers are "pseudo-newspapers" that are enriched with a "kitsch ideology" and hypocritical anti-establishment rhetoric. Robert Greenwald's documentary "Outfoxed" showed how "Fox News" mixes reporting and commentary, initiates smear campaigns against liberal politicians and activists, and sells the constant propagation of right-wing ideologies as "fair and balanced." For Greenwald, it is clear: Rupert Murdoch is waging a war against serious journalism.

The image drawn by Murdoch himself of a man from humble beginnings who campaigned against elite circles and the prevailing power structures is in order to cast doubt. In fact, his family was part of Australia's post-colonial upper class. Murdoch's parents sent their son to the elite Oxford University. Over the course of his career, he always sought (and found) contact with the top ranks of leadership. Margaret Thatcher's visits to the editorial offices of the British "Sun" are legendary in this context, where she drank whiskey with Murdoch. At first, Murdoch's alliances with those in power seem arbitrary. One wonders where exactly he should be placed on the political spectrum. Among his favored politicians, with whom he sought proximity in the past in order to improve the media policy framework, were Tony Blair, John Major, Ronald Reagan and Deng Xiaoping.

On the other hand, Murdoch's agenda was quite clear: Brexiteer, conservative, anti-European, anti-German and anti-French. A quote attributed to him, which he later denied: "When I go to Downing Street, the politicians do what I want; in Brussels, they don't even take any notice of me." The then Prime Minister John Major said of a meeting with Murdoch before the 1997 general election: "He made it clear that he did not like my European policy. He wanted me to change that. Otherwise his newspapers could not and would no longer support the Conservative government. As far as I remember, there was no talk of 'editorial independence'. He always just spoke of 'we' when it came to his newspapers." He continued: "Afterwards, we both kept our word, neither of us deviated from our line. Mr. Murdoch's papers then actually turned against the Conservatives. It was no surprise to me that shortly after our meeting he announced his support for Labour." Three months later, New Labour won the election by a landslide. Tony Blair became the new Prime Minister. And as for Brexit, Murdoch's The SUN ran the headline on June 22, 2016 (the day before the referendum): "The Sun says: Support Brexit! This is the election of a lifetime. Our LAST chance to free ourselves from the undemocratic Brussels machine."

Murdoch's clinging to the newspaper business was long interpreted as old-age stubbornness. Shareholders complained that if News Corp. continued to cling to chronically loss-making media such as the New York Post or the British Times, the profitable film and television business would suffer. The spin-off of the newspaper business, announced in 2012, was therefore greeted with relief within the group.

How Rupert Murdoch plans his own future is still unclear, despite his advanced age (he was born in 1931). His imminent retirement has often been predicted. For example, after he was diagnosed with cancer in 2000, which led to heavy losses in News Corp. shares. He did not resign and beat the illness. Or after the "News of the World" scandal. When he was summoned before the British Parliament, Murdoch said he was not responsible and had no plans to resign as head of News Corp. Then in January 2018, the then 86-year-old suffered a serious back injury on his son Lachlan's sailing yacht. There was immediate speculation that the deal with Disney (i.e. the sale of 21st Century Fox) could fall through. But Murdoch recovered again and the big Disney deal went ahead.


James and Lachlan Murdoch
Because the two older daughters were not interested in taking on larger roles in the company, the youngest son James (born 1972) remained the favored heir to the throne from the Murdoch family for a long time. He was CEO of BSkyB, the digital pay-TV operator in Great Britain, and made the company one of the most successful commercial television broadcasters in the United Kingdom. In 2016, he became Chairman of Sky, a post he gave up after Sky was sold to Comcast in October 2018. In mid-2020, however, he left the media company News Corp. completely.

"I think there's not much you can do if you're not on the executive board but on the board, and you're obviously excluded from many of the day-to-day decisions," he said. "And if you don't agree with those decisions, you have to think about whether you want to be involved in them and whether you can change them or not. I decided I can be much more effective outside." (New York Times, October 12, 2020: "James Murdoch, rebellious offshoot") One reason for the exit was Rupert Murdoch's proximity to then-US President Donald Trump. Quote New York Times: "When Rupert, the company's CEO, decided to run this network, it was a writing on the wall. Rupert and Mr. Trump intensified their dangerous tango and James, those who know him say, finally decided it was time to get out of this Faustian deal."

Observers initially assumed that Rupert Murdoch's eldest son Lachlan (born 1971) would retire from the company after he resigned from all positions in 2005 and founded his own production and investment companies, NOVA and Illyria. The strictly conservative Lachlan had been seen on the cover of New York Magazine as "The Boy Who Wouldn't Be King". He had even retired to Australia. A move that cemented the public image of the tanned, tattooed surfer as an ambivalent heir. In spring 2014, however, he was promoted to non-executive Co-Chairman of News Corp. and 21st Century Fox, becoming his father's confidant. And after the sale of 21st Century Fox to Disney in March 2019, Lachlan Murdoch became Chairman and CEO of Fox Corporation.

Business segments

The News Corp. activities in each industry are registered as a separate company with further subsidiaries in each country. In June 2012, Murdoch decided to split off the newspaper, book and Australian television division (News Corp.) from the more profitable film and television segment (especially the 21st Century Fox studio, which became Fox Corp. after the partial sale to the Walt Disney Company in 2019).

News Corp.

Dow Jones
The division consists of the global news and business information provider of the same name, which distributes its content and data through a variety of media channels, including newspapers, newswires, websites, mobile apps and more. These include the Wall Street Journal, Factiva, Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, Dow Jones Newswires, Barron's, MarketWatch and Investor's Business Daily.

books
News Corp. controls HarperCollins (New York), the second largest book publisher in the world with over 120 subsidiary publishers, including Avon, Amistad Press, Ecco, Fontana Books, Zondervan, Thomas Nelson and Harlequin Enterprises.

newspapers
The News Media group essentially consists of News Corp. Australia (over 140 newspapers, including The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun), News UK (The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times), and the New York Post.

Television
The Subscription Video Services segment provides sports, entertainment and news services to pay television and streaming subscribers and other commercial licensees, primarily via cable, satellite and internet. It consists of the Australian News Channel (“ANC”) and the 65% interest in the Foxtel Group. The Foxtel Group is the largest Australian-based provider of subscription television with almost 200 channels spanning sports, general entertainment, movies, documentaries, music, children's programming and news. Foxtel and streaming service Kayo Sports provide the leading sports programming in Australia, with broadcast rights to live sporting events including: National Rugby League, Australian Football League, Cricket Australia and various motorsport programs.

In addition, two investments in the area of Digital Real Estate Services. Around 61 percent of the REA Group (Australia, real estate and real estate-related services) and 80 percent of Move (leading provider of digital real estate services in the USA).

Fox Corp.
Fox News is the 24-hour news channel with the most viewers; together with the Fox Business Network, the company reaches 94 million viewers in the USA. With Fox Sports Net, the group operates the largest regional sports channel chain and broadcasts, among other things, college basketball and football, Champions League football, NASCAR car racing and golf. Fox Corp. also operates the TV production company Fox Entertainment (Los Angeles).

Current developments

In mid-October 2022, there is speculation worldwide about a new merger of Murdoch's TV and publishing segments, after the split in 2013. The main focus is on cost-cutting. Murdoch's news business is suffering from global crises, inflation and the threat of a recession. The focus on newspapers now seems to be taking its toll, as the group can no longer rely on Hollywood revenues.

Somewhat older news: "Rupert Murdoch's new channel TalkTV. The anti-BBC," said Der Spiegel on April 23, 2022. "With a group of notorious talk mercenaries, right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch wants to shake up Britain's television business: Will his new channel be the British Fox News?" Jeremy Kyle will be one of the drawcards. He was unemployed for three years after one of his guests committed suicide after the talk show. Or Sharon Osbourne, wife of Ozzy Osbourne. She was kicked out of CBS in 2018 when she defended scandal presenter Piers Morgan after racist remarks on ITV against Meghan Markle (married to Prince Harry). Piers Morgan will also get a show. His goal: "to cancel cancel culture."

Again, Der Spiegel: "Manipulative, infamous, populist - TalkTV will in all probability work like most other Murdoch media. But the station is more than the pastime of an elderly press mogul. With it, Murdoch will intervene in the social debate, no matter how erratically thrown together his talk mercenary group may seem at first glance, and steer it in his own way. He will give a home to that part of the TV audience that is more located in rural areas, that feels oppressed by the urban elites and believes that the liberal media mainstream manufactured in the London metropolitan region is trying to force its way of thinking and speaking on the rest of the country. The enemy is the BBC."

reading

• Arsenault, Amelia/Castells, Manuel 2008: Switching Power: Rupert Murdoch and the Global Business of Media Politics: A Sociological Analysis, in: International Sociology, July 2008, Vol. 23(4): pp. 488–513.
• Barthel, Nadine 2008: Murdoch, Keith Rupert. In: Hachmeister, Lutz (ed.): Fundamentals of media policy. DVA, Munich, pp. 272-277.
• Chenoweth, Neil 2002: Rupert Murdoch: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Media Wizard, Crown Business, New York.
• Chenoweth, Neil 2012: Murdoch's Pirates: Before the Phone Hacking, There Was Rupert's pay-TV skullduggery. Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
• Crainer, Stuart 2001: Big shots. Business the Rupert Murdoch Way. Capstone, Mankato.
• Davies, Nick 2014: Hack Attack: The Inside Story of How the Truth Caught Up with Rupert Murdoch. Faber & Faber, London.
• Ellison, Sarah 2010: War At The Wall Street Journal. Inside The Struggle To Control an American Business Empire. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston.
• Folkenflik, David 2013: Murdoch's World. The Last of the Old Media Empires. Perseus Books, London.
• Guthrie, Bruce 2011: Man Bites Murdoch. Carlton: Melbourne University Press.
• Page, Bruce 2004: The Murdoch Archipelago. Pocket Books, London.
• Shawcross, William 1997: Murdoch. The Making of a Media Empire. Simon & Schuster, New York.
• Sherman, Gabriel 2014: The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News–and Divided a Country. Random House, New York.
• Watson, Tom/Hickman, Martin 2012: Dial M for Murdoch. News Corporation and the Corruption of Britain. London, Allen Lane.
• Wolff, Michael 2008: The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch. Broadway, New York.