Murdoch Says Fox Recombination Plan, News Corp
Murdoch decided the merger was “not optimal for shareholders,” his companies said.
NEW YORK — Rupert Murdoch has responded to a proposal to sell his News Corp. and Fox Corp. back together, pulled the plug and explained that the merger was not timed for shareholders.
In similar statements Tuesday, the companies said their boards had received letters from Murdoch withdrawing the plan.
“Mr. Murdoch indicated that he and (son and Fox Corp. chief executive) Lachlan K. Murdoch have determined that a combination is not optimal for News Corp. and Fox shareholders at this time,” the statement reads the explanations.
The elder Murdoch first brought about the merger of News Corp. — which owns The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, The Sun and The Times in the UK, and book publisher HarperCollins — and Fox Corp., which controls Fox News, Fox Sports and local TV stations, launched , in October, according to regulatory filings.
The media mogul had sent letters to the companies’ boards, which formed committees to review a possible merger.
news corp started out as one company but split in 2013 into two parts: 21st Century Fox with the entertainment assets and News Corp. with the publishing and media values.
The Murdoch family controlled both corporations though spun off the Fox properties into a separate company after selling a large part of the Fox entertainment empire to Walt Disney Co. for $71 billion in a deal completed in 2019.
In premarket trading, shares of News Corp. was up 1.8% while Fox’s shares gained 3.9%.
https://www.kvue.com/article/news/nation-world/murdoch-news-corp-fox-merger/507-d8fdc613-ea2f-4543-9c52-271f3d06f07f Murdoch Says Fox Recombination Plan, News Corp
