The American media company FOX corporation was formed in the year 2019 after The Walt Disney Company acquired 21st Century Fox. The properties that were not procured by Disney, were renamed together as FOX Corp. Fox Corporation is based in New York City and is a publicly-traded company that is traded on NASDAQ as FOXA and FOX. The company was founded by Rupert Murdoch and the Murdoch Family has ownership of 39.6% shares in the company. Fox Corp. is involved in television broadcasting, sports broadcasting, and the news industries. The company does business through its several divisions that include names like Fox NEWS and Fox Television networks. Who owns Fox? News Corp is also owned by the Murdoch Family along with Fox Corp. and is concerned with the company’s print media assets.
21st Century Fox
The predecessor of Fox Corp., 21st Century Fox was a multinational mass media company based in Manhattan, New York City. 21st Century Fox was primarily involved in the dealings in the film industry and the television industry. It was the fourth-largest media company in the United States until 2019 when it was acquired by Disney. 21st Century Fox included the Fox Entertainment Group like 20th Century Fox studio, which was also the namesake of the media company and Fox Television. The company also held majority stakes in the National Geographic Partners, which was the commercial branch of the National Geographic Society. Among the many business expansions of 21st Century Fox, was also one of the most prominent channels on Indian Television, Star India.
Namesake
The name of the company traces its origin back to the Fox Film Corporation that was founded by William Fox in 1915.
Fox Film Corporation
Fox Film Corporation was a film production company that was involved in the production of several of Hollywood’s most famous motion pictures. The company was originally based in Fort Lee, New Jersey but was later moved to California, where the climate was better for film production. Wiliam Fox lost the management of the company in the 1930s as a result of the Wall Street crash of 1929. The company was taken over by Sidney Kent, who was the new president of the company and the company was merged with 20th Century Pictures, leading to the establishment of 20th Century Fox.
Sales to Disney
Shareholders of the 21st Century Fox decided in July 2018 to sell a majority of their media properties to the American media giant, Disney. Disney acquired parts of the 21st Century Fox like the20th Century Fox studios, etc., for $71.3 billion. Other media assets like Fox’s FSN regional sports networks were procured by Sinclair Broadcast Group and Sky PLC was bought by Comcast. The remaining assets in the company were renamed together as Fox Corp. These assets include MyNetworkTV networks and Fox Corp.’s national broadcasting, Television Stations, Sports and news operations, etc.
Owners: The Murdoch Family
Fox Corporation is owned by the Murdoch Family, who are prominent media owners in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Murdoch Family traces their lineage back to Pitsligo, Aberdeen-shire in Scotland. Rupert Murdoch, the third generation of the Murdoch family currently serves as the Chairman of Fox Corporation along with being the Chairman and CEO of New Corp. The Australian-born; American businessman is a board member of two of the most prominent media companies.
Rupert Murdoch began his career as a media proprietor in 1952 after inheriting his father’s stakes in the News Limited, which is known today as the News Corp Australia. The News Limited in the 1950s was the distributor of one of the biggest daily newspapers bases in Adelaide called, The News. The News was the only major asset in the company, however, the company soon procured major news houses in Australia and New Zealand. Murdoch in 1968, procured many British newspapers like News of The World, which is a weekly, and the daily newspapers like The Sun. San Antonio Express-News were the first big purchase of Murdoch in the United States. This purchase was made in 1973.
In 1976, he bought the New York Post and founded the US supermarket tabloid Star. In 1981 the Murdoch Family acquired the London Times and the Sunday Times. In 1984, the Murdoch family bought a major share in 20th Century Fox, which later became the foundation of a new free-to-air TV network called, The Fox Broadcasting company. Murdoch Family is also involved in paid television throughout the world, owning some of the biggest networks in several countries. Murdoch family have majority shares in networks like Star TV and Tata Sky in India and BSkyB, Sky Deutschland, Sky Italia in Europe. The Murdoch family also owns The News Corp.
News Corp
News Corp is a media and publishing company, established in 1980 by Rupert Murdoch. The headquarters of the News Corp is located in New York City. News Corp. is a public limited company and its shares are freely traded on the stock exchange as NASDAQ: NWSA and NWS. Rupert Murdoch serves as the Chairman of the company. News Corp. owns assets like Dow Jones & Company, who are the publishers of the Wall Street Journal, News UK (The Times and The Sun), News Corp Australia, Realtor.com, REA Group, and the book publishing house Harper Collins.
- Dow Jones & Company are New York-based financial publishers. They own journals, weekly, and websites related to the business sector. The Wall Street Journal is one of the biggest selling business newspapers in the United States. The journal has been published six days a week ever since 1889. The Wall Street Journal has been the recipient of 37 Pulitzer Prizes and has been named as the ‘newspaper of the record’.
- News UK: News Corp UK & Ireland is a British newspaper publishing company. It is owned by its parent company, which is the American News Corp. The company trades as News UK and currently publishes newspapers like The Times, The Sun, and The Sunday Times.
- News Corp. Australia: A subsidiary of the American News Corp, News Corp Australia is among the largest media companies and employs around 8,000 employees in the country. The company is involved in the publishing of newspapers and magazines along with subscription television, DVD and film distribution, market research, etc.
- HarperCollins: HarperCollins is a New York-based subsidiary of the News Corp. It is the world’s largest publishing house. The company was founded in 1989 after News Corp. acquired an American publishing house with the name Harper & Row along with a British publishing company William Collins, sons.
The company owns publishing houses outside the United States as well. They have divisions in countries like UK, India, China, etc.
More About Fox Corp
Fox Corporation has been operating since March 2019 with Lachlan Murdoch as its Chairman and CEO. By May 2019, Fox corporation procured a 4.99% stake in Canadian gambling operator, The Stars Group. The Stars Group was procured for $236 million. The company has announced plans to develop sports betting products under the name Fox Bets for the United States market.
Fox Corp bought Credible Labs for $397 million in August 2019 and later in the same year they acquired Bento Box Entertainment for $50 million. Fox Corp acquired the online streaming service Tubi for $440 million in April of 2020.
Divisions and Subsidiaries
Fox corporation has four major divisions. These are:
- Fox Entertainment
Formed after the acquisition of 20th Century Fox televisions by Disney in 2019, Fox Entertainment is Fox Corp’s division that is involved in the industry of television. The division acquired animation studio Bento Box Entertainment in August 2019. Fox Entertainment partnered with Caffeine in 2020, to bring back the AniDom Beyond Show, hosted by Andy Richter. The division has also decided on developing several scripted and unscripted projects for both Fox Broadcasting and third-party networks.
- Fox Television Stations
Fox television studios are owned by and operated under Fox Broadcasting company, a subsidiary of the Fox Corporation. Fox Television studios or FTS, developed and produced 25 seasons of the famous Fox program COPS until the show was moved to Paramount Networks in 2013.
- Fox News Media
Known as Fox News Channel (FNC) or just Fox News is an American conservative cable news channel. Fox News is a New York-based division of the Fox Corporation. The services of Fox News are available in over 86 countries of the world.
- Fox Sports Media Group
Also Known as Fox Sports, this division of the Fox Corporation is involved in broadcasting sports programs through Fox broadcast networks. The broadcast is made available through Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, and Fox Sports Radio.
Fox Corporation owns four subsidiaries. These are:
- Fox Broadcasts
- Credible Lab
- Lincolnwood Drive
- Tubi
FAQs
- Who owns Fox?
Fox network is owned by The Fox Corporation which is owned by the Murdoch Family. - What is the Fox network’s net worth?
Fox News has a net worth of $19.36 billion. - Who is the CEO of Fox Networks?
CEO of Fox Networks is Lachlan Murdoch.