Rupert Murdoch’s succession plan: What’s next for his empire
After a 70-year stewardship of the News Corp and Fox conglomerates, Rupert Murdoch is passing the baton onto his son Lachlan. See how he conquered the media world.
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He inherited a single newspaper in Adelaide in the 1950s, going on to become the world’s most influential and successful media proprietors.
After a 70-year stewardship of the News Corp and Fox conglomerates, Mr Murdoch announced on Friday he will be formally stepping down as Chairman in November.
The 92-year-old anointed his eldest son Lachlan to take the reins of the business empire.
Mr Murdoch leaves behind a legacy of taking “informed risks” from a deep understanding of the media landscape, that across three continents made him Australia’s most successful businessmen according to one of his former board directors Sir Rod Eddington.
Sir Rod, himself a distinguished business leader, said Mr Murdoch’s move was a well timed and executed succession – and despite stepping aside he remained Australia’s most successful businessman “by any measure”.
“He took informed risks based on his own experience of the world of global media and you don’t get it right all the time but he brought both an entrepreneurial spirit, really good business judgement and an understanding of the global industry, those three things to risk taking,” Sir Rod said.
“In my view they were not reckless risks, the company had difficulties sometimes through its journey as businesses do, global recessions and other challenges but Rupert brought entrepreneurial spirit, sound business Judgement and a deep understanding of the media world … his success is also based in part one on the passion for the industry and the people who are in it and also his devotion to it, he has never been a part time business leader.”
Sir Rod said Mr Murdoch, who announced he would become a chairman emeritus, was not leaving the stage just stepping back and his sound judgement would be available to Lachlan and his team should they choose to use it.
“I think the first thing to note is that he (Rupert) is in robust health and still got plenty of gas in the tank in my view but I think the transition is well timed, Lachlan now in his early 50s is extremely prepared for the additional responsibilities he will face and been in the business for a long time himself. The timing is right, this is an orderly transition in every sense and transitions aren’t always orderly for reasons beyond their control.”
Global reaction to the Murdoch announcement, made by his companies as well as in an email note to staff, recognised his business acumen, noting his disdain for snobbery and convention that combined with a knack for finding new value in staid media outlets found him success for more than six decades.
Former Prime Minister John Howard praised Mr Murdoch for striking a “blow for free speech” notably with his newspaper titles in Australia and the UK.
“Rupert Murdoch is the most talented and influential world business figure Australia has produced,” he said. “He changed the face of media and was always intensely interested in the battle of ideas.”
Mr Murdoch’s niece, Herald and Weekly Times Chairman Penny Fowler also paid tribute.
“It is so wonderful that Rupert will become chairman emeritus,” Ms Fowler said on Friday.
“Like my grandfather Sir Keith Murdoch, Rupert continues to make an enormous impact here in Melbourne where he was born through the Herald & Weekly Times, the Good Friday appeal, the Murdoch Children‘s Research Institute and supporting the communities we all work and live in.”
Mr Murdoch was plunged into the news business suddenly when he was 21-years-old when his 66-year-old father died in 1952, leaving him the struggling Adelaide News which he turned around before quickly expanding his business portfolio with media acquisitions in the UK and US.
His decision to step aside caps a remarkable career in which he revolutionised news and entertainment worldwide.
“For my entire professional life, I have been engaged daily with news and ideas, and that will not change. But the time is right for me to take on different roles,” he said.
Mr Murdoch will be appointed as chairman emeritus of News Corp – the publisher of this masthead – and Fox Corporation in the United States when both companies hold annual meetings in November.
Lachlan Murdoch, 52, will become the sole chair of News Corp while continuing as the executive chair and chief executive officer of Fox Corporation.
His father praised him as a “passionate, principled leader” in a move that solidified Lachlan as his successor.
“Our companies are in robust health, as am I. Our opportunities far exceed our commercial challenges,” Mr Murdoch said in his email.
“We have every reason to be optimistic about the coming years – I certainly am, and plan to be here to participate in them.”
After inheriting The News in Adelaide, Mr Murdoch set about developing an extraordinary conglomerate with iconic publishing, television and film brands.
He bought Sydney’s Daily Mirror in 1960 and launched The Australian – the national daily broadsheet newspaper – four years later before beginning his global expansion in 1969 with the acquisition of the News of the World and The Sun in the UK.
In the 1970s, Mr Murdoch moved to the US, where he started with a newspaper in Texas and went on to buy the New York Post, New York Magazine and The Village Voice.
He established News Corp in 1980 as the holding company for his burgeoning empire, which soon also included The Times and The Sunday Times in London, the Boston Herald and the Chicago Sun-Times.
In 1985, after several television deals in Australia, Mr Murdoch took over Hollywood’s 20th Century Fox studio and six TV stations in some of America’s biggest cities, establishing Fox as the nation’s fourth TV network.
Under his leadership, Fox rewrote the rules of network programming with hits including The Simpsons and Married … With Children, while also shaking up America’s most popular sport by claiming the rights to the NFL’s National Football Conference in 1993.
Mr Murdoch launched Fox News in 1996, a 24-hour news channel that became the nation’s most watched cable news station in 2002 – a title it has held ever since.
Similarly in the UK, he launched Sky Television in 1988, creating Sky News as the country’s first 24-hour news channel and acquiring the rights to the English Premier League.
In Hollywood, he transformed 20th Century Fox from a struggling studio into a cinema powerhouse responsible for Avatar and Titanic, two of the highest grossing films of all time.
During his rapid expansion in the 1980s, Mr Murdoch also reclaimed the Herald and Weekly Times newspaper group his father had overseen after rising to prominence as a war correspondent.
His passion for newspapers continued with his Dow Jones deal in the US in 2007, giving him control of the Wall Street Journal which soon became the nation’s biggest selling paper.
News Corp Australia’s assets now include Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, Melbourne’s Herald Sun, Brisbane’s Courier-Mail, Adelaide’s The Advertiser, news.com.au and Sky News Australia.
Other investments have included realestate.com.au, Australia’s pay TV network Foxtel and streaming services Binge and Kayo, book publishing giant HarperCollins, and the ill-fated purchase of social media network MySpace.
In 2012, Mr Murdoch split his companies into News Corp and 21st Century Fox, which was sold to Disney in 2019. He retained control of the newly formed Fox Corporation, which he briefly sought to reunite with News Corp last year.
He was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia – the country’s highest honour for outstanding achievement – in 1984 for his service to the media.
Lachlan Murdoch, who became the executive chairman of 21st Century Fox in 2015 and then the chairman and CEO of Fox Corporation in 2019, congratulated his 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,” he said in a statement.
“We are grateful that he will serve as Chairman Emeritus and know he will continue to provide valued counsel to both companies.”
There were controversies and setbacks during Mr Murdoch’s 70-year career, including the 1990 debt crisis that nearly sank the company, the News of the World phone hacking scandal in the UK, and a $US787.5m settlement this year over a lawsuit alleging Fox News defamed a voting machine company in its coverage of the 2020 US election.
Mr Murdoch, in his email to staff, said that while “neither excessive pride nor false humility are admirable qualities”, he was “truly proud of what we have achieved collectively through the decades”.
But he cautioned that the “battle for the freedom of speech and, ultimately, the freedom of thought, has never been more intense”.
“My father firmly believed in freedom, and Lachlan is absolutely committed to the cause,” Mr Murdoch said.
“Self-serving bureaucracies are seeking to silence those who would question their provenance and purpose. Elites have open contempt for those who are not members of their rarefied class. Most of the media is in cahoots with those elites, peddling political narratives rather than pursuing the truth.”
“In my new role, I can guarantee you that I will be involved every day in the contest of ideas. Our companies are communities, and I will be an active member of our community.”
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