Murdoch moves to reunite companies that own Fox News and the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times.
The new structure will be overseen by Rupert and his sons Lachlan and James. It will be divided into four parts, with Murdoch himself continuing as chairman.
“Rupert Murdoch is now best placed to ensure a smooth transition as part of a broader strategy to rebalance global media, one that will see more of the business made up of smaller companies and less of the’mega-mergers’ that have dominated US media in recent years,” said analysts at Cowen. “The new company will be structured in such a way as to avoid any conflict of interest.”
At a meeting with his Fox News executive team, Murdoch said: “We have to work together on something that will benefit everyone – our shareholders and the long-term interests of all the companies that we control. And it clearly has to be about building greater prosperity in the media industry.”
Rupert Murdoch arrives at the LNB Plaza hotel in London. Photograph: Adrian Wyld/AFP/Getty Images
The UK’s Office of Fair Trading, which regulates the media industry, has also issued an order that will prevent Murdoch from using his company as an intermediary in any proposed takeover bid for Sky, which he owns.
Murdoch’s News Corporation says he will continue to be chairman of News UK, which is the UK arm of News Corp.
In a statement, it said: “Rupert Murdoch and the News Corp board have confirmed that the chairman of News UK will be his oldest son, Lachlan.”
The new arrangement is expected to be completed within weeks.
Murdoch was given his majority stake in the newspaper group in 1986 when News Corp split into two parts: News International, which covers tabloid newspapers, and News Corporation, which owns the Newsnight and Wall Street Journal.
He took over the Journal from his father in 1986 and the other British newspapers in 1991.
When News Corp split his News UK operations into two, Murdoch said: “The way to manage this is to sell it both ways: to the US market, but also to the rest of the world.
“I have always been convinced that it’s in the best interests [of News UK] to sell to the US where we have a huge audience and to sell to the rest of the world, by far,