Three years after selling most of 21st Century Fox to Walt Disney, CEO Rupert Murdoch is working to consolidate his U.S. media holdings, bringing titles like The Wall Street Journal and Fox News under one umbrella. News Corp – The Wall Street Journal and New York Post – and Fox Corp said they had formed a special commission to investigate the mix-up.
In 2013, Rupert Murdoch split his media conglomerates into two separate companies: News Corp, which groups publishing titles such as the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal, and 21st Century Fox, the former owner of 20th Century Fox.
The family trust controls both the companies by holding 39% stake in these companies. The split was aimed at appeasing the markets, which were pushing Murdoch to sell his newspapers, which he refused to do.
But the current media landscape makes this distinction difficult to date. As rivals such as Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon ramp up their offerings, these companies can create economies of scale by combining news, sports and digital real estate businesses.
Murdoch’s hope is that a merger could put the companies in a better financial position and improve cash flow for acquisitions or return capital to shareholders, a source familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity. This information was first published by The Wall Street Journal.
While the conservative Fox News Channel is the most-watched on American cable, it faces a number of challenges. On the one hand, it’s more exposed to subscription prices, which are under pressure as US consumers move away from pay-TV.
On the other hand, the controversial profile of one of its main hosts, Tucker Carlson, has also scared off some advertisers who don’t want to be associated with his program.
Finally, Fox News is facing massive defamation lawsuits from election software companies Smartmatic and Dominion.
The two companies are seeking billions in damages after Fox News falsely accused former President Donald Trump and his lawyers of election fraud and harmed them.
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