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rupert murdoch

Family business roundup: 21st Century Fox, Fiat, Bestway

July 18, 2014

Murdoch merger rebuffed by Time Warner; Family-owned Fiat denies Volkswagen takeover bid and Bestway buy Co-op pharmacy in multi-million pound deal

Murdoch merger rebuffed by Time Warner

Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox has had an $80 billion (€59.1 billion) merger deal rejected by US rival Time Warner.

When familial ties force a young next-gen into leadership

July 17, 2014

A fresh-faced CEO straight out of business school isn't always the person to inspire public and investor confidence, but circumstances sometimes force a young candidate into the top spot at a family firm.

Picking a chief executive for any family business is a tough task. It is especially problematic if the company is bent on keeping a family member in the top job. This was the conundrum Gianni Agnelli faced when trying to prepare an heir to take the wheel of his family’s iconic Italian car brand Fiat. Drug addiction in his only son and then stomach cancer in his nephew saw his pool of potential successors whittled down to his 21-year-old grandson John Elkann.

Infographic: Australian family businesses

May 12, 2014

Australian family businesses have enjoyed local and
international success, but closer to home they are
facing a succession squeeze and a government that
is slow to show its support.

Australian family firms have certainly produced some larger-than-life businesspeople. Gina Rinehart, the wealthiest person in Australia, owes her fortune to Hancock Prospecting – the mining company founded by her father. She is consistently in the national, and often international, headlines for her anti-environmental business agenda and support for lower wages. This is in addition to her on-going, and very public, feud with her children over the governance of the family trust that manages the family’s wealth.

Lachlan Murdoch scores top posts at News Corp and 21st Century Fox

March 26, 2014

Rupert Murdoch appears to have anointed Lachlan Murdoch his family business heir apparent, in a reshuffle in 21st Century Fox and NewsCorp senior management this week, appointing the 42-year-old his co-chair at both companies.

Lachlan's brother James Murdoch, once seen as the most likely successor to the Murdoch family empire, was promoted to co-chief operating office at 21st Century Fox, but will not be working in such a direct relationship with his father.

Rupert immortalised in hall of fame for birthday

March 12, 2014

What to get a billionaire octogenarian for their birthday? Twenty-First Century Fox chief Rupert Murdoch got immortality, of a sort, when he was inducted into the US television hall of fame.

What to get a billionaire octogenarian for their birthday? Twenty-First Century Fox chief Rupert Murdoch got immortality, of a sort, when he was inducted into the US television hall of fame.

The March 11 ceremony, where he was inducted alongside five others, coincided with his 83rd birthday, something the family business patriarch described as an annoyance, because he doesn’t like looking back on the past.

Genting Malaysia to launch 20th Century Fox theme park

December 18, 2013

Genting Malaysia, controlled by the Lim family, has joined forces with Twentieth Century Fox, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s entertainment empire, to launch a $300-million (€218 million) theme park in the south Asian nation.

Murdoch is a four-letter word

December 11, 2013

The theme was ‘animals of Indonesia’, but anyone who thought ‘LIVESIHCODRUM’, in The Sunday Telegraph’s weekly word puzzle, was something of the furry variety would have been mistaken.

The NewsCorp-owned Australian paper appeared to carry a hidden message, with the letters on the third line of the word search quiz spelling out ‘Murdoch is evil’ when read backwards.

James Murdoch sells 21st Century Fox shares

November 21, 2013

The son of Rupert Murdoch and second-gen deputy chief operating officer at 21st Century Fox, James Murdoch, has sold around a fifth of his shares in the entertainment company in a transaction valued at around $15 million.

It comes just two weeks after the company posted its first quarterly results as a standalone company, following its separation from News Corp.

Murdoch survives as chairman of 21st Century Fox

October 21, 2013

Rupert Murdoch has been reelected as chairman of the board for entertainment company 21st Century Fox, despite opposition from several shareholder groups and a top proxy advisory firm.

His sons, Lachlan and James, were also reelected to the 12-person board.

The vote was made last Friday at the first shareholder meeting of the company, which was separated from the publishing arm of Murdoch's News Corp in June this year.

Remove Murdochs from 21st Century Fox, says advisory firm

October 9, 2013

Shareholders in Rupert Murdoch's newly-formed entertainment company 21st Century Fox have been advised to vote against his re-election as chairman – and against the return of his two sons Lachlan and James to the board of directors – by a top proxy advisory firm, ahead of the company's first shareholder meeting next week.