Billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch is considering reuniting News Corporation and Fox Corporation into a single company, which would put the Wall Street Journal newspaper and other print products under the same umbrella as Fox News.
Rupert Murdoch, 91, moved to split an earlier version of News Corp. into two companies in 2013, contending to shareholders that separate print and broadcast companies would “enable us to respond more rapidly to fast-evolving markets.”
The broadcast company was originally called 21st Century Fox, before reforming as Fox Corp. in 2019 after Disney purchased the company’s entertainment assets. The Murdoch family is the primary shareholder of both Fox Corp. and News Corp., and maintains a firm grip on the operation of both companies—Rupert Murdoch is CEO of News Corp. and chairman of both companies, while his son, Lachlan Murdoch, is CEO of Fox Corp.
People familiar with the discussions told the Wall Street Journal that a reunion is no guarantee and alternative strategies may also be studied.
The Big Number: Nearly US$26 billion. That’s the combined market cap of the two companies. Fox Corp. is worth about US$16.7 billion and News Corp. has a value of almost US$9.1 billion.
Forbes Valuation
We estimate Rupert Murdoch and his family to be worth around US$16.9 billion, almost solely thanks to the media empire.
This article was first published on forbes.com
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