Yesterday (21 September) News Corporation and Fox Corporation announced that Murdoch was stepping down from his role as chairman, and from mid-November would become chairman emeritus of the two companies.
Murdoch, who is 92, inherited Adelaide, Australia newspaper The News in 1952 after his father Sir Keith Murdoch passed away.
Over the course of an extraordinary seven decade career he has courted politicians and controversy, and expanded via both acquisitions and by setting up new channels, including Sky in the UK.
His eldest son Lachlan will take over from him, and the Succession-style happenings dominated online and broadcast news channels yesterday and feature on most of today’s newspaper front pages, although not The Sun’s. The tabloid described him in an online piece yesterday as ‘The Sun King… moving into a new role’.
The news is prominent on most of today's front pages
Lachlan Murdoch said: “On behalf of the Fox and News Corp boards of directors, leadership teams, and all the shareholders who have benefited from his hard work, I congratulate my father on his remarkable 70-year career.
“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. We are grateful that he will serve as chairman emeritus and know he will continue to provide valued counsel to both companies.”
In a message to employees, Rupert Murdoch said the companies were in robust health “as am I”, and said he would continue to be actively involved.
“Our opportunities far exceed our commercial challenges. We have every reason to be optimistic about the coming years – I certainly am, and plan to be here to participate in them. But the battle for the freedom of speech and, ultimately, the freedom of thought, has never been more intense.
I look forward to seeing you wherever you work and whatever your responsibility. And I urge you to make the most of this great opportunity to improve the world we live in,” he stated.
Controversies that affected his print and publishing interests here included the year-long dispute at the then-News International’s Wapping print site in the 1980s, which ultimately resulted in the firm setting up new, non-unionised print plants.
The phone hacking scandal of 2011 resulted in the abrupt closure of the News of the World, at the time the country’s biggest Sunday tabloid, and its impact still reverberates to this day.
Tony Burke, former deputy general secretary of the Graphical Paper & Media Union and former assistant general secretary of Unite, said Murdoch could never be forgiven for his actions.
“We will never forget or forgive Rupert Murdoch for his sacking 5,500 print workers and the move to Wapping in 1986.
“He created untold misery for those workers and their families. I am sure that the families of the Liverpool supporters who died in the Hillsborough disaster and the family of Milly Dowler probably feel the same.”
Murdoch married his fourth wife, former supermodel Jerry Hall, at St Bride’s Church in London in March 2016, but the couple divorced last year.
Murdoch used to post regularly on Twitter, now X, but has not tweeted since the day he married Hall.
