The elder Mr. Murdoch will become chairman emeritus of the two companies, the company said in a release.

Mr. Murdoch, 92, had shown no intention to step down or even slow down — even after he named Lachlan as the operating heir to his business empire in 2019, when he sold his vast entertainment holdings to the Walt Disney Company.

Even now, in his emeritus status, he will continue to offer counsel, Lachlan Murdoch said in a statement.

“We thank him for his vision, his pioneering spirit, his steadfast determination, and the enduring legacy he leaves to the companies he founded and countless people he has impacted,” Lachlan Murdoch, 52, said in a statement the company released Thursday morning.

The elder Mr. Murdoch’s retirement in a sense formalizes the arrangement he had already put in place after the Disney sale, which made his son the day-to-day executive in charge of the two companies at the heart of the Murdoch empire — Fox Corporation and News Corporation.

To wit, the younger Murdoch’s titles — executive chairman and chief executive — remain effectively unchanged, barring the small tweak of losing the “co-” he once shared with his father, who maintained similar titles until Thursday morning.

Though striking a different visage than his father — with tattoos and trademark leather boots — Lachlan Murdoch has so far represented continuity for the family companies. Though the company’s holdings include The Wall Street Journal, Fox broadcasting and Tubi, it has been more defined by the populist conservative voices at Fox News and The Sun tabloid in Britain.

There was no precipitating event for the announcement, beyond that obvious fact that even the healthiest 92 year old is in his twilight years.

And it has long been said among those who know Mr. Murdoch that he would prefer to retire while still viewed as sharp and active — he was on the Fox lot this week — than as a diminished figure.

But with his announced retirement, Mr. Murdoch was also further solidifying the company beneath his chosen business heir ahead of a looming, family battle for control of the empire after Mr. Murdoch’s eventual death.

Under the terms of the family trust that controls the family’s stake in the empire, each of Mr. Murdoch’s four eldest children — Lachlan Murdoch, Elisabeth Murdoch, James Murdoch and Prudence Murdoch — will have an equal vote on its future following his death; until then, Mr. Murdoch holds the controlling vote.

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This is A Developing Story. Check Back for Updates.

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Jim Rutenberg is A Writer at Large for The Times and the Sunday Magazine. He was Previously the Media Columnist, A White House Reporter and A National Political Correspondent. He was Part of the Team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2018 for Exposing Sexual Harassment and Abuse. More about Jim Rutenber

New York Times, September 21, 2023

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/21/business/media/rupert-murdoch-fox-retire.html

Rupert Murdoch Stepping Down

BREAKING: Rupert Murdoch has announced he is stepping down as Chairman of Fox and News Corphttps://t.co/PAiZ4D1jU3

Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/yUfveitpQb

— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 21, 2023

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