When Rupert Murdoch split his vast corporate empire almost 12 years ago, many predicted his publishing assets would wither on the vine.
The Australian-born mega-billionaire’s beloved newspapers in this country, the UK and US were bleeding cash and causing him problems. The British tabloids had ensnared the company in a phone hacking scandal, and the diminished News Corp — which would house those titles alongside more prestigious mastheads such as The Wall Street Journal and The Times of London — was derisively labelled “CrapCo”.
Fox Corp, which inherited the family’s more lucrative film studio and television assets, was considered the far safer bet.
More than a decade on, the reality has proved quite different. Fox Corp is a much smaller company than it was at the time of the split — largely due to the sale of its film studio assets to Disney in a blockbuster transaction that reshaped Hollywood. News Corp, however, not only found its footing but has steadily grown into one of the world’s most formidable digital media companies.
