President Donald Trump (L) is hugged by Rupert Murdoch, Executive Chairman of News Corp during a dinner commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Second World War Battle of the Coral Sea aboard the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum May 4 2017 in New York.
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | beautiful pictures
Rupert Murdoch is figuring out whether to put his media companies News Corp. and Fox Corp. back together, according to News Corp.
News Corp., which owns the Wall Street Journal’s Dow Jones publisher, said Friday that it has formed a special committee of board members to consider a possible deal. The merger is uncertain, the company added its announcement.
Fox Corp., left over from the $71.3 billion sale of Twenty-First Century Fox to Disney in 2019, owns the right-wing network Fox News and Fox Business, which is a competitor to CNBC.
A combination that would allow Murdoch to consolidate leadership in his media empire and cut costs. Discussions take place as audiences shrink to both print and cable TV, as readers and viewers increasingly get their news and entertainment from social media, news online and streaming services.
CEO Robert Thomson told employees in a memo obtained by CNBC that it would not affect News Corp’s current operations.
“I would like to stress that the special committee has not made any decisions at this time, and cannot be certain that any transaction will result from this review,” he wrote.
Thomson also asked employees not to speculate on a potential deal or make any official comments to the media, shareholders or customers.
The news also came as Fox Corp. and Fox News is facing a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit from the Dominion Electoral System. Dominion argued that Fox News and Fox Business falsely claimed that their voting machines rigged the results of the 2020 presidential election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
CNBC reached out to Fox and News Corp. Neither the Company nor the Special Committee intend to comment on or disclose further developments regarding the work of the Special Committee unless and until they consider it appropriate to disclose further. or requested,” News Corp said in a statement Friday.
Murdoch, 91, splits Fox and News Corp. in 2013. He was the chairman of Fox and the executive chairman of News Corp. His son Lachlan Murdoch is the CEO of Fox and co-chairman of News Corp.
The Murdoch family has a 42% voting stake in Fox and a 39% voting stake in News Corp., according to the Journal. Fox’s market value is about $17 billion, while News Corp.’s. was about $9 billion, as of Friday’s market close. News Corp.’s Class A stock. gained more than 3% in the hours, while Fox’s Class A stock was mostly flat.
News Corp. also included book publisher HarperCollins, the newspaper alleged the New York Post and news outlets in the UK and Murdoch’s hometown in Australia. Fox shares also include the Fox broadcast network, which broadcasts “The Simpsons” and NFL games.
