Fox Corporation is an American multinational mass media company headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan. Incorporated in Delaware, it was formed as the portion of 21st Century Fox that was not acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 2019.[7][8][9][10] The company is controlled by the Murdoch family via a family trust with 39.6% ownership share, and by Rupert Murdoch himself to the effect of almost 40%.[11][12]
Rupert Murdoch is chair emeritus, while his son Lachlan Murdoch is executive chair and CEO. Fox Corp. deals primarily in the television broadcast, news, and sports broadcasting industries. Its assets include the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Television Stations, Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Sports, Tubi, and others. Murdoch's newspaper interests and other media assets are held by News Corp, which is also under his control.
On September 21, 2023, Rupert Murdoch announced that he was stepping down as the chairman of Fox Corporation, effective November 2023.[13]
The company name traces back through a series of mergers and demergers to the Fox Film Corporation founded by William Fox on February 1, 1915.[14]
On December 14, 2017 The Walt Disney Company announced its intent to acquire the motion picture, cable entertainment, and direct broadcast satellite divisions of 21st Century Fox, including 20th Century Fox, for $52.4 billion. The remainder of the company would form a so-called "New Fox", maintaining control of assets such as Fox's television network and broadcast stations (which Disney, already owning ABC, would be legally unable to own due to an FCC policy known as the "dual network rule", which prohibits mergers between the top broadcast networks), Fox News, the national operations of Fox Sports, and the 20th Century Fox studio lot, which would be leased to Disney for seven years. Fox's regional sports networks were also included in the sale, but were later divested by order of the Department of Justice, on the grounds that the Fox regional networks' combination with Disney's 80% ownership of ESPN would make Disney too dominant in the cable sports market.[15][16][17][18][19]
In May 2018 it was confirmed that Lachlan Murdoch, rather than James Murdoch, would take charge of the New Fox company.[4]
In mid-2018 NBCUniversal's parent company Comcast instigated bidding wars over both the Fox assets Disney planned to purchase, and the British broadcaster Sky plc (a company which 21st Century Fox held a stake in, and was planning to acquire the remainder). In July 2018, Fox agreed to an increase of Disney's offer to $71.3 billion to fend off Comcast's counter-bid.[20][21] British regulators ordered that a blind auction be held for Sky's assets, which was won by Comcast.[22]
On October 10, 2018, it was reported that in preparation for the impending completion of the sale, the new, post-merger organizational structure of "New Fox" would be implemented by January 1, 2019.[5] On November 14, 2018, it was revealed that the new independent company will maintain the original Fox name.[23] On January 7, 2019, Fox Corporation's registration statement was filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.[24]
On January 11, 2019, Fox stated in a securities filing that it had no plans to bid on its former regional sports networks;[7] they would instead go to a consortium led by Sinclair Broadcast Group, with Fox Corporation continuing to license the FSN name to those stations until Sinclair developed a new brand (the networks would eventually become Bally Sports).[25] On March 12, 2019, Disney announced that the sale would be completed by March 20, 2019.[26] On March 19, 2019, Fox Corporation officially began trading on the S&P 500, replacing 21st Century Fox on the index.[9] Republican politician and former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan also joined Fox Corporation's board at this time.[3]
Under the terms of the acquisition, Disney will phase out the Fox brand usage by 2024.[27]
Fox Corporation began operating separately on March 19, 2019.[3] Chairman and CEO Lachlan Murdoch led a town hall meeting three days later, indicating that stock would be issued to the corporation's employees based on longevity.[28]
In May 2019 via the Fox Sports division, Fox Corporation acquired a 4.99% stake in Canadian online gambling operator The Stars Group for $236 million. As a result, it was also announced that the companies would co-develop sports betting products for the U.S. market under the branding Fox Bet.[29]
In early July 2019, Fox Entertainment announced the formation of SideCar, with executives led by Gail Berman. SideCar was a content development unit for Fox and other outlets.[30] In June 2020, SideCar was shut down by Fox.[31]
In August 2019, Fox Corporation acquired Credible Labs for $397 million and animation studio Bento Box Entertainment for $50 million.[32][33][34]
On April 20, 2020, Fox Corporation acquired streaming service Tubi for $440 million.[35][36]
In September 2021, Fox Corporation acquired TMZ from WarnerMedia in a deal worth about $50 million, with TMZ being operated under the Fox Entertainment division.[37]
In December 2021, Fox Corporation acquired the film and television production studio MarVista Entertainment.[38][39]
In September 2022, Fox Corporation announced the launch of Fox Entertainment Studios. This is the company's first venture into entirely in-house television production. The studio debuted its first show, Monarch, on September 11, 2022.[40] Fox also announced that Fox Entertainment would re-enter the international distribution business by launching a sales unit called Fox Entertainment Global.[41]
On October 14, 2022, it was announced that, under the instruction of Rupert Murdoch, a special committee had been established to explore a potential merger of Fox and News Corp, bringing the two companies back together since the former 21st Century Fox was spun-off from News Corp in 2013.[42] Although Lachlan Murdoch supported his father in the proposal, James Murdoch opposed it, as did many shareholders.[43] On January 24, 2023, the proposed merger was abandoned by Murdoch.[44][45]
In April 2023, Fox announced it would be forming Tubi Media Group. This would be a standalone digital business unit, encompassing Tubi, Credible Labs, Blockchain Creative Labs, along with several other Fox digital sports, news and entertainment platforms[46] and teams, in which Paul Cheesbrough was announced as CEO.[47][needs update]
The company consists of the former 21st Century Fox's media and broadcasting properties that were owned by its predecessor, such as the Fox Broadcasting Company and Fox Sports Media Group.[48]