Rupert Murdoch steps down as Fox and News Corp chairman, son to take over role

Rupert Murdoch is stepping down from his position as Fox Corporation chairman and News Corp executive chairman, and his son, Lachlan Murdoch, will take over as sole chairman of both companies, the 92-year-old media mogul said Thursday.

Murdoch said he is in "robust health" and will officially make the transition to chairman emeritus in November.

"For my entire professional life, I have been engaged daily with news and ideas, and that will not change," Murdoch wrote in a letter to colleagues, Fox News reported. "But the time is right for me to take on different roles, knowing that we have truly talented teams and a passionate, principled leader in Lachlan who will become sole Chairman of both companies."

Major subsidiaries owned by News Corp span across the globe and include the publisher HarperCollins, real estate listings company Realtor.com, the "New York Post," and Dow Jones & Company, which produces "The Wall Street Journal."

Murdoch started building his media empire in 1954 when he took News Limited, a corporation that his father ran. He expanded his media holdings throughout Australia and New Zealand through the 1950s and 1960s before entering into the United Kingdom market in 1969. Murdoch acquired U.S. media assets in the 1970s and formed News Corporation in 1980 before launching FOX Broadcasting in 1986.

"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," Lachlan Murdoch said.

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