Rupert Murdoch has backtracked on plans to reunite his broadcasting and publishing empires, FOX and News Corp (NASDAQ:NWS), nearly a decade after they were split.
The 91-year-old media mogul and his son Lachlan said the proposed merger was “not optimal for shareholders,” in a press release, bringing an end to a plan originally laid out last autumn.
The decision followed feedback from investors.
FOX, which owns Fox News and other broadcast brands, and News Corp (NASDAQ:NWS), which owns publications including The Times and Sun newspapers in the UK, Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones in the US, and The Australian and Herald Sun in Australia, were split in 2013, separating Murdoch’s media assets in a move he claimed would “unlock the true value of both companies”.
News Corp includes publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Sun, the Times and the New York Post, while FOX, with a market cap of roughly US$18bn, is a broadcasting giant.
FOX’s film studio was sold off to Disney as part of a US$71.3bn deal in March 2019, leaving his eldest son in charge of its remaining broadcast, cable news and sports networks as chief executive.
Collectively, the Murdoch family owns roughly 40% of FOX and News Corp respectively, with Murdoch senior’s net worth sitting at US$18bn currently, according to Forbes.
Both companies saw share price gains in early trading in New York, as News Corp rose 7.9% to US$21.5, while FOX was up 3% to US$33.6.