TOPLINE
James Murdoch, the youngest son of billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch, resigned from the board of his family’s News Corp. Friday due to “disagreements,” marking his final pivot from formal roles at his family’s media empire.
Lachlan, Rupert and James Murdoch in London.
KEY FACTS
In his resignation letter Murdoch wrote, “my resignation is due to disagreements over certain editorial content published by the Company’s news outlets and certain other strategic decisions,” he had been on the board since 2013.
His father, who is executive chairman of News Corp. and his brother Lachlan, who is co-chairman, said in a joint statement Friday: “We’re grateful to James for his many years of service to the company,” adding, “We wish him the very best in his future endeavors.”
In January, Murdoch publicly criticized the family’s news outlets for their “ongoing denial” of the links between climate change and bushfires in Australia — News Corp. owns several papers in Britain and Australia and others, including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post.
Murdoch had already departed Fox Corporation, the family’s television and entertainment holding that houses Fox News, after his family transferred many of its assets to The Walt Disney Company in a $71.3 billion deal inked in 2018.
Rupert chose Lachlan to be head of Fox Corporation, but a role was not carved out for Murdoch, who had been CEO of 21st Century Fox from 2015 until it was sold to Disney — he moved on to start his investment firm Lupa Systems, after reportedly netting $2 billion from the deal.
Murdoch remains a beneficiary of his family’s trust — Forbes estimates that Rupert and his family’s net worth is $16.9 billion.
Surprising fact
HBO’s “Succession” is thought to be loosely based on the family. Murdoch told the New Yorker he hasn’t seen it.
key background
While his father is conservative, Murdoch told the New Yorker last year that the 2020 election is “a really crucial moment” for liberal democratic values and admitted, “there are views I really disagree with on Fox.” He and his wife Kathryn have backed Democratic candidates and sustainability companies and causes and co-founded the foundation Quadrivium which focuses on climate change, ocean health and democracy, among other things. “Quadrivium is working to restore the health of our U.S. democracy at a time of increasing polarization and dysfunction within the system,” the site reads. Federal Election Commission receipts show that Murdoch and his wife jointly contributed more than $1 million to a fundraising committee for former Vice President Joe Biden, now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, in June.
Further reading
Rupert Murdoch’s Son James Blasts ‘Ongoing Denial’ Of Climate Change At News Corp, Fox News (Forbes)
What The Disney-Fox Deal Means For Rupert Murdoch’s Fortune (Forbes)
No, James Murdoch Doesn’t Watch “Succession” (New Yorker)
