Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp and co-chairman of 21st Century Fox, arrives at the Sun Valley Resort of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 10, 2018 in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images
Rupert Murdoch has withdrawn the proposal to re-combine Fox Corp and News Corp.
Fox said Tuesday its board received a letter from Murdoch, its chairman, and his son and Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch that “determined that a combination is not optimal for the shareholders” of either of the companies at the time.
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The potential merger had faced opposition from shareholders in recent months, who didn’t believe a merger would showw the true value of News Corp. if it merged with Fox.
In a note to News Corp. employees, Robert Thomson said Tuesday that while the deal was called off it would have no impact on employees, according to a memo reviewed by CNBC.
In October, the companies said they had formed a special committee to consider the deal.
A combination of the two companies would have unified leadership in Murdoch’s empire and cut costs at a time when the audience is shrinking for both print and TV media. News Corp. owns Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones. Fox, with what was left over from the $71.3 billion Twenty-First Century Fox sale to Disney in 2019, owns right wing networks Fox News and Fox Business, which is a CNBC competitor.
Murdoch had split up the companies in 2013. The Murdoch family trust controls about 40% or the voting rights of both companies.
–CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge contributed to this article.
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