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Rupert Murdoch's 70-year career from Australia to global media mogul

2023-09-22 01:47
Rupert Murdoch has stepped down as the chairman of Fox and News Corp, ending a seven-decade career that
Rupert Murdoch's 70-year career from Australia to global media mogul

Rupert Murdoch has stepped down as the chairman of Fox and News Corp, ending a seven-decade career that began from his father's Australian newspaper business and culminated in one of the most influential media empires.

With deals for companies like Dow Jones, Sky and 21st Century Fox, Murdoch built a media behemoth that controlled large swaths of news, publishing and film industries.

Here's a timeline of key milestones through Murdoch's career:

YEAR EVENT

1952 Murdoch inherits his father's Australian newspaper

"The News" at the age of 21. In 1953, he becomes

its editor and publisher and joins the board of

News Ltd.

1969 He acquires News of the World and turns it into

the most widely read English-language weekly in

the world, eventually amassing scores of

newspapers and magazines.

1973 Enters the U.S. market with the purchase of San

Antonio Express and the San Antonio News.

1976 Acquires New York Post for $30 million.

1981 His company News International buys the Times and

Sunday Times

1985 Buys 50% of 21st Century Fox

1986 News Corporation acquires Metromedia, which

included six television stations that would lay

the foundation for Fox network.

1987 Buys U.S. publisher Harper & Row

1989 Forms publisher HarperCollins through merger of

the two companies. Launches Sky Television in the

UK

1996 Launches Fox News

1998 Fox Entertainment Group went public

2004 Murdoch enacts an emergency poison pill provision

after Liberty Media Chairman John Malone quietly

snaps up close to 20% of News Corp voting shares.

2007 Acquires the Wall Street Journal publisher Dow

Jones for $5.6 billion.

2011 Shuts the weekly British tabloid, News of the

World, after a far-reaching phone hacking scandal

that rocked his empire, the Murdoch family and the

British establishment.

2013 Splits News Corporation assets into News Corp and

21st Century Fox

Dec, 2017 Disney strikes a deal to buy film, television and

international businesses from Twenty-First Century

Fox for $52.4 billion in stock

May, 2018 Lachlan Murdoch replaces brother James as Fox CEO

after Disney deal.

Sept, 2018 21st Century Fox agrees to sell its 39% stake in

Sky to Comcast, completing the U.S. cable group's

takeover and ending Murdoch's ties with the

UK-based satellite broadcaster.

March, Walt Disney closes its $71 billion acquisition of

2019 Twenty-First Century Fox's film and television

assets.

Feb, 2021 Electronic voting systems maker Smartmatic sues

Fox News and Rudolph Giuliani, a lawyer for former

President Donald Trump, claiming they falsely

accused the company of helping to rig the U.S.

presidential election in favor of Joe Biden.

March, Dominion Voting Systems Corp files a $1.6 billion

2021 defamation lawsuit against Fox News, accusing it

of trying to boost its ratings by falsely claiming

the company rigged the 2020 U.S. presidential

election against Donald Trump.

Oct, 2022 Murdoch starts a process to reunite his media

empire, News Corp and Fox Corp, saying they would

consider combining at his behest, nearly a decade

after the companies split.

Jan, 2023 Murdoch scraps proposal to reunite News Corp and

Fox Corp as the company was also exploring a sale

of Move Inc.

April, Fox settles a defamation lawsuit by Dominion

2023 Voting Systems for $787.5 million, over US

election lies. A week later Fox News Media and

top-rated host Tucker Carlson agree to part ways.

September, Murdoch steps down as chairman of Fox and News

2023 Corp, cementing his son Lachlan's role as the

leader of the media empire. Lachlan will be the

chairman of News Corp and continue as the chair

and CEO of Fox.

(Reporting by Chavi Mehta and Samrhitha Arunasalam in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Zaheer Kachwala; Editing by Arun Koyyur)