Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox on Tuesday said its board approved a shakeup that puts the 84-year-old tycoon’s son James in the chief executive job effective on July 1.
The media-entertainment conglomerate’s board approved the plan in which the Australian-born magnate would step down as chief executive and become co-executive chairman with his other son, Lachlan.
The succession plan, which was leaked last week by sources close to the company, allows Rupert Murdoch to ease out of the day-to-day management of the group, with his sons sharing many of those tasks.
A statement said the company’s corporate functions and its global television and film operations would “now jointly report to Lachlan and James Murdoch.”
“It has always been our priority to ensure stable, long-term leadership for the company and these appointments achieve that goal,” Rupert Murdoch said in the statement. “Lachlan and James are each talented and accomplished executives and together, we, as shareholders and partners, will strive to take our company to new levels of growth and opportunity at a time of dynamic change in our industry.”
The company has a range of film, broadcast and cable operations around the world and reaches about 1.8 billion people. It also has a 39 percent stake in the European satellite group Sky.
Lachlan and James Murdoch said in a joint statement: “We are both humbled by the opportunity to lead, with our father and the talented team of executives at 21st Century Fox, this extraordinary company.”
The statement added that Chase Carey, the firm’s deputy chairman, president and chief operating officer, would become the executive vice chairman and serve in that role through June 30 next year.
The firm 21st Century Fox was created two years ago when Murdoch split the struggling publishing operations from his News Corp empire from the faster-growing media and entertainment operations.
Rupert Murdoch and his family remained in control of both companies after the split. He is executive chairman at News Corp with Lachlan listed as cochairman.
In the latest quarter, Fox reported net income of US$975 million on revenues of US$6.5 billion.
News Corp — which owns Wall Street Journal parent Dow Jones — reported a profit of US$23 million on US$2 billion in revenues over the same period.
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