Rupert Murdoch’s eldest son has been named his successor as the chairman of the Fox Corporation board and the News Corporation board.
Fox News could shift further to the right now that a new chairman of the Fox Corporation board and the News Corporation board has been named.
Rupert Murdoch has announced that he will step down as the head of the media giant and that his eldest son, Lachlan, will take over both chairmanships while continuing his role as executive chair and chief executive officer of Fox Corporation following the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders in mid-November.
«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 said in a Thursday statement. «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. We are grateful that he will serve as Chairman Emeritus and know he will continue to provide valued counsel to both companies.»
Lachlan solidified his position within Fox’s ranks when his brother James, the fourth child and second son of Rupert, suddenly resigned from the board in 2020 «due to disagreements over certain editorial content published by the Company’s news outlets and certain other strategic decisions.» While it was not apparent what editorial content pushed James to resign, he had previously indicated apprehension with the network’s growing conservative slant.
Lachlan, however, has been reported to be even more conservative than his 92-year-old father, raising questions as to what Fox News will look like under his leadership.
«It’s important to note that Lachlan’s politics are far more conservative than his father,» Lachlan Cartwright, The Daily Beast’s editor-at-large, said in a January episode of «The New Abnormal» podcast.
