Fox founder Rupert Murdoch steps down from global media empire

Rupert Murdoch, the media magnate who built an unmatched global media empire over seven decades from a single newspaper he inherited in his native Australia, announced on Thursday that he would step down.

"I have been engaged daily with news and ideas, and that will not change," Murdoch wrote in a memo to employees of both corporations. "The time is right for me to take on different roles."

Murdoch's career has been marked by a singular drive for business success and repeated scandals. The political alliances he struck helped to spark both.

His elder son Lachlan Murdoch, who has been leading the company with him, will become the sole chairman of both Fox Corp., the broadcast arm of the family's holdings, and News Corp., which encompasses newspapers and book publishing. Rupert Murdoch will become chairman emeritus. The changes will happen in November.

Through outlets he acquired and others he founded, Rupert Murdoch ultimately dominated journalism and politics in Australia, the U.K. and the U.S., often promoting politicians who embraced his conservative beliefs.

His major outlets include Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the Times of London and the New York Post. Even after the sell-off of much of his Hollywood holdings, his properties also span Asia, Latin America and Europe.

Earlier this year, Murdoch's role in allowing Fox News stars to embrace discredited claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential race came into sharp view during a defamation suit filed against the network and Fox Corp. The company settled for $787.5 million just before opening arguments in the trial were to begin. Murdoch was expected to testify.

Despite Murdoch's contempt for former President Trump, Fox amplified his baseless claims of having been cheated in the race. Documents from that legal case show network leaders desperate to win back viewers angry that Fox News journalists had projected Joe Biden would win Arizona on Election Night.

In a letter to staff explaining his decision to step away, the 92-year-old Murdoch took a shot at unnamed elites, saying they "have open contempt for those who are not members of their rarified class" and said most of the rest of the media was in "cahoots with those elites."

The announcement comes ahead of the annual shareholder meetings in November for both companies; while they are publicly traded, Rupert Murdoch is considered to control more than 40 percent of their voting shares.

Corporate officials say Murdoch remains in fine health and form. Murdoch made clear in his note to staff that he did not intend to simply fade away.

"I can guarantee you that I will be involved every day in the contest of ideas," he wrote. "I will be watching our broadcasts with a critical eye, reading our newspapers and websites and books with much interest, and reaching out to you with thoughts, ideas, and advice."