Fox News Ownership · Fox Corporation · The Murdoch Family · What They Own
Fox News is owned by Fox Corporation, a publicly traded company controlled by the Murdoch family. Rupert Murdoch founded Fox News in 1996. His eldest son, Lachlan Murdoch, now holds sole control of the empire following a landmark family succession deal. This guide explains the full ownership structure, what Fox Corporation owns, and how that control actually works.
📊 Ownership Chain — Who Ultimately Controls Fox News
🧑💼 Controls Everything
Lachlan Murdoch & the Murdoch Family Trust
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🏢 Parent Company
Fox Corporation (NASDAQ: FOXA / FOX)
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📺 The Network
Fox News Channel
📡 The Plain-English Version — Everything You Need to Know
Fox News is not an independent company. It is a wholly owned division of Fox Corporation, which is a publicly traded company listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbols FOXA and FOX. Fox Corporation owns Fox News, Fox Sports, the FOX broadcast network, Fox Entertainment, Fox One (the streaming service), Tubi (the free streaming platform), and dozens of local FOX television stations across the United States. Fox Corporation is in turn controlled by the Murdoch family, which holds approximately 40% of the company’s voting power through a special class of shares — enough to set strategy and make major decisions even though regular shareholders own a larger slice of the company’s stock. Rupert Murdoch, the Australian-American media mogul who founded Fox News in 1996, stepped down as chairman in 2023 at age 92. His eldest son, Lachlan Murdoch, now serves as Fox Corporation’s Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and has full control over the direction of Fox News and the entire media empire following a family succession deal finalized in September 2025.
🔑 Key Facts — Fox News Ownership Answered Directly
The questions below are the ones people search most when trying to understand who actually runs Fox News, whether Disney has anything to do with it, and how the Murdoch family really fits into the picture.
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Who is the real owner of Fox News? Fox Corporation owns Fox News 100% · Fox Corporation is controlled by Lachlan Murdoch, son of Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch · The Murdoch family holds about 40% of Fox Corporation’s voting power, giving them effective controlFox News Channel is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fox Corporation — meaning Fox News does not have its own separate shareholders, board, or ownership structure. It is a division of Fox Corporation in the same way that a department store brand might be a division of a larger retail company. Fox Corporation is a public company, meaning anyone can buy shares in it on the Nasdaq stock exchange, but owning a few shares does not give any influence over how Fox News operates. The Murdoch family maintains effective control through a dual-class share structure: regular investors own Class A shares with limited voting rights, while the Murdoch family’s trust controls Class B shares that carry significantly more voting power per share. Lachlan Murdoch, 54, now holds sole control of the trust following the September 2025 family settlement, making him the single most powerful individual in determining Fox News’s direction — who gets hired, what the editorial stance is, and what major business decisions get made.
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Does Disney own Fox News? No — Disney does not own Fox News · Disney acquired parts of 21st Century Fox in 2019 (film studio, National Geographic, Hulu stake, international channels) but the news, sports, and broadcast network assets were deliberately excluded · Fox News remained with the Murdoch family in the newly formed Fox CorporationThis is one of the most persistent myths about Fox News. When Disney bought the majority of Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox empire in a $71.3 billion deal that closed in 2019, it acquired Fox’s film studio, the Simpsons and all of 20th Century Fox’s entertainment library, National Geographic, the FX cable channels, Murdoch’s international assets, and 21st Century Fox’s 30% stake in Hulu. What it specifically did NOT acquire: Fox News, Fox Sports, the Fox broadcast network, or the local Fox television stations. The Murdoch family made a deliberate choice to keep the news and live sports assets. Those retained properties were reorganized into the current Fox Corporation. Disney and Fox Corporation are now completely separate companies — Disney owns ABC, ESPN, Hulu, Disney+, and National Geographic; Fox Corporation owns Fox News, Fox Sports, Tubi, FOX One, and the Fox broadcast network. They compete directly in many areas but share no ownership connection.
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Who is the biggest shareholder of Fox News? The Murdoch family trust is the dominant shareholder · Lachlan Murdoch now holds sole voting control over that trust following the September 2025 succession settlement · Institutional investors including Vanguard and BlackRock also hold large economic stakes but have no meaningful voting controlFox Corporation’s shareholder structure separates economic ownership from voting control. Large institutional investment firms — Vanguard, BlackRock, and others — collectively own a significant percentage of Fox Corporation’s Class A shares, which carry economic value but limited voting power. The Murdoch family trust, now controlled by Lachlan Murdoch, holds Class B shares that carry ten votes per share versus one vote per Class A share. This dual-class structure means the Murdoch family can maintain control even if other shareholders disagree with their decisions. Rupert Murdoch’s three older children — Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch, and James Murdoch — sold their Fox Corporation and News Corp shares as part of the September 2025 succession deal, receiving an estimated $1 billion or more each. That sale removed any possibility of the siblings forming a coalition to challenge Lachlan’s control. The trust governing Fox Corporation’s voting rights is set to expire in 2050, at which point the structure could change.
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Is Lachlan Murdoch a supporter of Trump — and how does that affect Fox News? Rupert Murdoch built Fox News with a conservative editorial direction, and Lachlan’s control ensures that direction continues · The September 2025 succession deal was explicitly designed to prevent more politically moderate siblings from changing Fox News’s editorial stance · Lachlan’s political views are considered closely aligned with his father’sThe politics of Fox News ownership are inseparable from the succession drama. Rupert Murdoch’s stated concern about the family trust was that after his death, his three older children — James, Elisabeth, and Prudence, who hold more politically moderate views — might collectively vote to shift Fox News away from its conservative editorial identity. His attempt to amend the family trust to disenfranchise those three children was rejected by a Nevada probate court in December 2024, which ruled that Rupert and Lachlan had acted in “bad faith.” The court commissioner described the effort as a “carefully crafted charade” designed to permanently cement Lachlan’s executive role. The eventual settlement achieved Rupert’s goal by financial means rather than legal ones: the three siblings were bought out for approximately $3.3 billion total, trading their voting rights for cash. The result, as multiple reports noted, is that Fox News’s editorial direction is now secured in the hands of Rupert’s chosen heir through 2050, without any mechanism for the broader family to intervene.
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Who owns CNN and Fox News — are they connected? No connection · Fox News is owned by Fox Corporation (Murdoch family) · CNN is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (a separate publicly traded media company) · The two are direct competitors with no ownership linkFox News and CNN are owned by entirely separate companies with no shared ownership. CNN is a division of Warner Bros. Discovery, which was formed in 2022 when AT&T’s WarnerMedia merged with Discovery. Warner Bros. Discovery is publicly traded and owns CNN, HBO, Max (the streaming service), the Discovery Channel, TNT, TBS, truTV, and other properties. Fox Corporation has no stake in Warner Bros. Discovery and vice versa. The two companies compete directly for cable news viewers, advertisers, and distribution deals with cable and streaming providers. Fox News has been the most-watched cable news channel in the United States for more than two decades, consistently leading CNN in ratings. The two channels have diametrically opposed editorial positions and target different political audiences — Fox News primarily serving conservative viewers and CNN positioning itself as a more centrist news outlet. Beyond news, Fox Corporation and Warner Bros. Discovery also compete in live sports, as TNT and TBS (Warner) carry NBA and college basketball while Fox Sports and ESPN carry significant NFL and college football rights.
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What does Fox Corporation own besides Fox News? Fox Sports (NFL, MLB, FIFA World Cup) · FOX broadcast network (TV stations in major cities) · Fox Entertainment · Tubi (free streaming, 100M+ users) · FOX One (streaming subscription service) · Fox Television Stations (28 local TV stations) · Pending: Roku acquisition ($22B deal announced June 2026)Fox Corporation is much more than a cable news company, even though Fox News generates roughly 70% of its annual pre-tax profits. Fox Sports holds significant U.S. broadcast rights including the Super Bowl on rotation, the FIFA World Cup in English, NASCAR, and the MLB postseason. The FOX broadcast network is the fourth major U.S. broadcast television network alongside ABC, CBS, and NBC, carried free over the air in most U.S. cities. Tubi, acquired for $440 million in 2020, has become one of the largest free streaming services in the country — more than 100 million users watch content there without paying a subscription fee. FOX One launched in August 2025 as Fox’s paid direct-to-consumer streaming service, offering FOX News, FOX Sports, and other channels directly to subscribers without cable. The Roku acquisition announced June 15, 2026, for approximately $22 billion would add Roku’s streaming hardware business and The Roku Channel — a major expansion that would give Fox Corporation a direct relationship with more than 100 million streaming households worldwide if regulators approve the deal.
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Who owns Fox News — is it Trump, a political party, or the government? None of the above · Fox News is privately controlled through Fox Corporation by the Murdoch family · No political party, government, or political figure has any ownership stake · Fox News is an independent commercial company that makes its own editorial decisionsFox News has no government ownership or political party affiliation in a legal or financial sense. It is a commercial media company that generates revenue through advertising and cable carriage fees. No political figure — including former or current presidents — holds any ownership stake in Fox Corporation or Fox News. Rupert Murdoch and the Murdoch family have well-documented relationships with various political figures over the decades, and Fox News’s editorial direction has historically aligned with conservative political views, but those relationships reflect business and editorial choices, not ownership. This is an important distinction: editorial bias and ownership are two different things. Fox Corporation is owned by the Murdoch family, operates under Lachlan Murdoch’s leadership, and makes its own independent programming and editorial decisions as a private media company. It is not a state-owned media outlet, a party organ, or a government-funded broadcaster.
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What happened with the Murdoch family succession — who controls Fox News going forward? Lachlan Murdoch won sole control through a $3.3 billion family buyout settled in September 2025 · His three siblings (James, Elisabeth, Prudence) sold their Fox and News Corp shares · A new trust secured for Lachlan expires in 2050 · Rupert Murdoch remains Chairman Emeritus with no operational roleThe Murdoch succession story ran for years before its September 2025 resolution. After Rupert Murdoch stepped down as Fox Corporation chairman in 2023 and handed the chairman role to Lachlan, a legal fight erupted over the family’s irrevocable trust established in 1999. Rupert attempted to amend that trust to give Lachlan sole control and prevent his other children from interfering with Fox News’s conservative direction after Rupert’s death. A Nevada probate court rejected that plan in December 2024, saying Rupert and Lachlan had acted in “bad faith.” What emerged from the failed court effort was a negotiated financial settlement: Rupert’s three older children — James, Elisabeth, and Prudence — agreed to sell approximately 14.2 million News Corp Class B shares and 16.9 million Fox Corporation Class B shares. Each is estimated to have received upward of $1 billion. In exchange, they gave up any future claim on the voting control of either company. A new trust was formed with Lachlan holding sole voting control, and his younger sisters Grace and Chloe are also beneficiaries. This structure is locked in until 2050, effectively guaranteeing Lachlan’s — and by extension, Fox News’s current direction’s — continuity for approximately 25 more years.
🏢 What Fox Corporation Actually Owns — The Full Empire
Fox Corporation is far larger than Fox News alone. Here’s every major asset under the same ownership umbrella as of mid-2026.
📺 Cable News
Fox News Channel
Most-watched U.S. cable news channel. Launched 1996 by Rupert Murdoch. Generates ~70% of Fox Corp’s annual profits through ads and cable carriage fees.
🏈 Sports
Fox Sports / FS1 / FS2
Holds NFL rights (Super Bowl on rotation), FIFA World Cup English broadcast, NASCAR, MLB postseason, Big Ten Network, and college football.
📡 Broadcast Network
FOX Network + 28 Local TV Stations
The FOX broadcast network airs primetime shows and live sports in markets across the U.S. 28 company-owned local Fox affiliates in major cities.
🎬 Free Streaming
Tubi
Free, ad-supported streaming service with 100M+ users. Acquired for $440M in 2020. No subscription fee — revenue from ads. One of the largest free streamers in the U.S.
💳 Paid Streaming
FOX One
Launched August 2025 as Fox’s direct-to-consumer streaming service. Carries Fox News, Fox Sports, FOX network live. Available as a standalone subscription or as the ESPN + FOX One bundle.
⏳ Pending (2027)
Roku ($22B acquisition)
Deal announced June 15, 2026. Would add Roku’s streaming device platform and The Roku Channel. Expected to close first half of 2027 pending regulatory approval.
💡 What Fox Corporation Does NOT Own
Fox Corporation has no ownership stake in CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, ESPN, Disney+, Netflix, Peacock, Amazon Prime Video, or the Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal is owned by News Corp — a separate, separately controlled company that is also majority-owned by Lachlan Murdoch’s trust but operates entirely independently from Fox Corporation.
🔍 Common Questions — Deeper Answers
How does Fox News actually make money — and why does that matter to who controls it?
BUSINESS MODEL
Fox News generates revenue primarily through two channels: advertising and cable carriage fees. Carriage fees — the monthly payments that cable and satellite companies like Comcast, DirecTV, and Spectrum make to carry Fox News in their channel lineups — represent a large and predictable income stream. Every cable subscriber in the country pays a portion of their monthly bill toward Fox News whether they watch it or not, as long as their cable company carries it. Advertising revenue from commercials accounts for the rest. Fox News has been the most-watched cable news network in the United States for over two decades, which gives it substantial leverage in both advertising rates and carriage fee negotiations. Fox News generates approximately 70% of Fox Corporation’s pre-tax profits — meaning without Fox News, the rest of the company’s assets would not be nearly as financially valuable. This financial reality gives the network enormous internal weight within Fox Corporation and explains why the Murdoch family fought so hard to keep editorial control out of the hands of siblings who might want to change its direction.
💰 Two revenue streams: cable carriage fees + advertising
📊 Fox News generates ~70% of Fox Corp’s pre-tax profits
📺 Most-watched cable news network since 2002
🔌 Carriage fees paid by your cable company regardless of whether you watch
What does the Fox Corporation’s acquisition of Roku mean for everyday TV viewers?
ROKU DEAL · WHAT IT MEANS
If the $22 billion acquisition clears regulatory approval and closes as expected in early 2027, the Murdoch family’s media empire would effectively own the front door of your television if you use a Roku device. Roku is installed on more than half of all broadband-connected TVs in the United States — either as a dedicated streaming stick or box, or built directly into smart TVs from brands like TCL, Hisense, and others. It controls the home screen interface, the search function, and the recommendations that appear when you turn on your TV. Owning Roku would give Fox Corporation the ability to promote Fox News, FOX Sports, and Tubi in prominent positions on those screens — potentially reaching tens of millions of households who currently access a variety of streaming services through Roku’s platform. The deal raised concerns among media observers about media concentration: a single family controlling a major cable news network, a broadcast network, a paid streaming service, a free streaming service, and the physical hardware used to access all streaming services is an unusual degree of vertical integration. Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch called it “a defining moment” for the company when announcing the deal on June 15, 2026.
📱 Roku on: 100M+ streaming households globally
🏠 Fox would own: news channel + broadcast + streaming + device platform
📅 Expected close: first half of 2027 · pending regulatory review
💡 For viewers: Roku promises to remain an open platform — to be confirmed
Is Rupert Murdoch still involved with Fox News — what role does he have now?
RUPERT MURDOCH · CURRENT STATUS
Rupert Murdoch, now 94, holds the ceremonial title of Chairman Emeritus at Fox Corporation but has no operational role. He stepped down as Fox Corporation’s chairman in September 2023 and handed the position to Lachlan. His departure from the chairman role marked a formal end to nearly 70 years of direct personal leadership over the media empire he built. Rupert Murdoch remains an enormously influential figure in the conservative media world and has maintained personal relationships with political leaders throughout his career, but the day-to-day decisions at Fox News — who gets hired and fired, what stories are covered, and how the network positions itself politically — now rest with Lachlan. Rupert’s continued presence as Chairman Emeritus is largely symbolic. His legal attempt to amend the family trust to fortify Lachlan’s position after his death — the effort rejected by a Nevada court in December 2024 — revealed how much he wanted to ensure the conservative direction of Fox News would outlast him. The September 2025 financial settlement achieved that goal: the trust that gives Lachlan sole control over the Fox empire runs until 2050, well beyond any reasonable expectation of Rupert’s lifetime.
👴 Rupert Murdoch: Chairman Emeritus · no operational role
📅 Stepped down: September 2023 at age 92
🔑 Lachlan: Executive Chairman + CEO of Fox Corporation since 2023
📜 Control trust secured until 2050
Can I invest in Fox News — how do I buy Fox Corporation stock?
INVESTING · FOX CORP STOCK
You cannot buy shares in Fox News directly — it is not a separately listed company. You can invest in Fox News’s parent company, Fox Corporation, which trades on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Fox Corporation has two classes of shares listed on the market: Class A shares, traded under the ticker FOXA, carry one vote per share and are available to any investor. Class B shares, traded under ticker FOX, carry no voting rights at all for public investors (the Murdoch family’s voting Class B shares are in a separate non-traded trust). If you buy either FOXA or FOX, you own a small economic stake in the same company that owns Fox News, Fox Sports, Tubi, and FOX One. You gain no influence over editorial decisions or company strategy — that power remains exclusively with the Murdoch family through their controlling trust. Fox Corporation reported approximately $14.9 billion in annual revenue for fiscal 2024. As a publicly traded company, it files regular reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that are publicly available and contain detailed financial information about the company’s performance and ownership structure. For investment decisions, consult a licensed financial advisor — this guide describes the ownership structure only and is not financial advice.
📈 Class A shares: Nasdaq ticker FOXA · voting shares available to public
📊 Class B shares: Nasdaq ticker FOX · no voting rights for public investors
💰 Fox Corp revenue: ~$14.9B annually (fiscal 2024)
⚠️ Owning stock: no editorial influence · Murdoch family retains control
Does the Murdoch family own any other major news outlets besides Fox News?
MURDOCH MEDIA EMPIRE
Yes — through a separate company called News Corp, the Murdoch family also controls some of the most prominent newspapers and publications in the world. News Corp and Fox Corporation are two separate publicly traded companies, both controlled by Lachlan Murdoch’s trust following the September 2025 settlement. News Corp’s holdings include the Wall Street Journal (one of the most widely read financial newspapers in the United States), the New York Post (the tabloid-style daily), Barron’s (the financial publication), Dow Jones (the business news and data company), the Times of London and Sunday Times (major British newspapers), and HarperCollins (one of the largest book publishers in the world), among many others. The combined reach of Fox Corporation and News Corp gives the Murdoch family editorial influence over television news, digital media, newspapers, book publishing, and — if the Roku deal closes — the hardware infrastructure of streaming television. To put the scale in context: more than 200 million people worldwide read or watch Murdoch-owned media in some form on a regular basis.
📰 Also owns (News Corp): Wall Street Journal · New York Post · Barron’s
📚 Also owns (News Corp): HarperCollins · Times of London
📊 Also owns (News Corp): Dow Jones business news and data
🌍 Combined reach: 200M+ readers and viewers globally
How did Rupert Murdoch build Fox News — where did it come from?
HISTORY & ORIGIN
Fox News launched on October 7, 1996, funded and directed by Rupert Murdoch, who hired veteran TV executive Roger Ailes to build the channel from scratch. Murdoch had arrived in the United States from Australia in the 1980s, acquiring newspapers and tabloids before pivoting to television. He purchased 20th Century Fox’s film studio in 1985, then bought a group of local television stations in major markets in 1986 and used them to launch the FOX broadcast network — becoming the first viable challenger to ABC, CBS, and NBC in decades. Fox News was conceived as a conservative-leaning cable news alternative to CNN, which Murdoch believed skewed too liberal for a significant segment of the American viewing public. Ailes, who had prior experience producing political television and advising Republican candidates, shaped Fox News’s populist, partisan format. The channel surpassed CNN in the ratings by 2002 and has led cable news ever since, with its largest audiences typically averaging more than 2 million viewers during primetime. Ailes ran Fox News until 2016, when he resigned following sexual harassment allegations. Murdoch himself then briefly took day-to-day control before additional management changes were made. Today, the channel operates under the Fox News Media division of Fox Corporation, with editorial leadership reporting up through Fox Corporation’s executive structure to Lachlan Murdoch.
📅 Founded: October 7, 1996 by Rupert Murdoch
👤 Built by: Roger Ailes, hired by Murdoch to design the channel’s format
📊 Ratings leader: surpassed CNN in 2002, led cable news every year since
📺 HQ: 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York City
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🔑 Quick Reference — Fox News & Fox Corporation Key Facts
📺 Fox News owned by: Fox Corporation (100%)
🧑💼 Fox Corp CEO: Lachlan Murdoch (Executive Chairman + CEO)
👴 Founder: Rupert Murdoch (Chairman Emeritus — no operational role)
📊 Fox Corp stock: FOXA (voting) / FOX (non-voting) on Nasdaq
🏢 Fox Corp HQ: 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036
🌐 Fox Corporation: foxcorporation.com
📺 Fox News website: foxnews.com
📰 Also Murdoch-controlled (separate company): Wall St Journal · NY Post · News Corp
📅 Fox News founded: October 7, 1996
⏳ Murdoch family trust control: expires 2050
✅ 5 Key Facts to Remember About Fox News Ownership
- Fox Corporation owns Fox News. It is not an independent company — it is a wholly owned division of Fox Corporation, which is a publicly traded company controlled by the Murdoch family through a special trust that holds high-voting shares.
- Disney does not own Fox News. Disney bought Fox’s film studio and entertainment assets in 2019 for $71.3 billion. The Murdoch family deliberately kept Fox News, Fox Sports, and the FOX broadcast network separate. Disney and Fox Corporation are now direct competitors with no ownership link.
- Lachlan Murdoch is in charge. He is Fox Corporation’s Executive Chairman and CEO, and since the September 2025 succession settlement, he holds sole voting control over the family trust that controls Fox Corporation. His father Rupert Murdoch is 94 and holds only a ceremonial Chairman Emeritus title.
- Fox Corporation just made a massive move. On June 15, 2026, Fox announced it is buying Roku for $22 billion — adding Roku’s streaming device platform and 100 million-plus connected TV households to its portfolio. If regulators approve the deal, it would close in early 2027 and reshape how Fox News reaches American households.
- The Murdoch family also controls News Corp separately. News Corp — a completely separate publicly traded company — is also majority-controlled by Lachlan Murdoch’s trust and owns the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, Barron’s, HarperCollins, and other media properties. Fox Corporation and News Corp share an owner but operate independently.
Information about Fox Corporation’s ownership structure, Murdoch family succession, and the pending Roku acquisition reflects publicly available facts as of June 2026. Corporate ownership structures, stock holdings, and executive roles can change. This page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal, or financial advice. No affiliation with Fox Corporation, News Corp, or any media company mentioned.