Business magnate Rupert Murdoch is mulling a proposal that may reunite his media empire viz. News Corp and Fox Corp., a little less than 10 years after they were split.
“At News Corp, we are constantly pursuing ways to enhance our performance and expand our businesses, and the upheaval in media presents both challenges and opportunities,” News Corp chief executive, Robert Thomson informed his employees in a memo.
Reportedly, to evaluate a possible merger, the two companies have established executive committees. The proposal is still in its infancy and both companies are yet to ascertain the completion of the deal.
“I would like to stress that the Special Committee has not made any determination at this time, and there can be no certainty that any transaction will result from its evaluation,” added Thomson.
If the merger does happen, which will be a likely volta face on Murdoch’s earlier vision, Fox News and TMZ assets will be interlinked with News Corp’s coterie of publications which includes the Wall Street Journal, New York Post based in the US and the Times and the Sun in the UK, alongside the Australian.
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Notably, the split transpired in 2013 and Murdoch, at the time attributed the decision to simplifying operations which had become ‘increasingly complex’ due to the vast size of his media holdings.
However, since then, much water has flown under the bridge. The advertising sales revenue has called to record lows for media companies in the last few years.
Thus, the merger might allow Murdoch’s media empire to trim costs and compete much more ferociously with deep-pocket giants like Apple and Amazon.
Murdoch has controlling stakes in both companies and experts believe that the deal most likely will go through and be completed in the coming months.
As reported by WION, Murdoch owns more than 30 newspapers in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom.
He took charge of his family business when he was 21 after his father’s death. He then expanded his family business by buying Sunday Times, Western Australia and over the year he went ahead acquiring more suburban and provincial newspapers.
Murdoch is referred to as the inventor of modern tabloids. As the chief of both companies, he developed a pattern to attract viewers with increasing sports news and less focus on hard news, and scandal coverage with eye-catching headlines.
(With inputs from agencies)
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