Fox Corporation, formed in 2019, is controlled by the Murdoch family. It operates in television broadcast, news, and sports industries, owning Fox News, Fox Sports, and more. Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch hold key positions in the company.
The company name traces back through a series of mergers and demergers to the Fox Film Corporation founded by William Fox on February 1, 1915.
On January 6, 1924, William Fox acquired 99 acres of land in Los Angeles from the Janss Company, situated between Santa Monica Boulevard and Pico Boulevard.
On November 6, 1925, William Fox purchased the rights to the Movietone sound system, leading to the establishment of Fox Movietone.
On November 6, 1928, Fox Movietone City was dedicated to producing exclusively sound films, marking a significant milestone in the transition from silent picture production.
With financial support from Fox, the 250,000 square foot Fox Theatre was completed, featuring the 3,622-pipe Möller organ known as 'Mighty Mo'. The theatre opened on Christmas Day in 1929 with the premiere of Disney's first cartoon starring Mickey Mouse, Steamboat Willie.
Wendell L. Willkie, the 1940 Republican nominee for President, took over as Chairman of Fox Film following a management shakeup, replacing Joseph Schenck.
TCFFC purchased 89.97 acres, including the remainder of the Golf Course and the balance of the eastern half of Century City, increasing the total area of Fox Movietone City to 286.31 acres.
Fox agreed to sell 6.125 acres to the city of Beverly Hills for the construction of Beverly Hills High School and another 15.5 acres for streets.
Alcoa Corporation bought the 260-acre Fox Film lot and allowed Fox to lease back 75.7 acres for film production.
Richard Zanuck, President of TCFFC, hurried to finish the film Cleopatra and then closed down the studio to reorganize due to significant financial losses.
WNYW in New York City debuted its 10:00 p.m. newscast in March 1967.
Between 1975 and 1980, Fox acquired TV stations, Coca-Cola Bottling, Aspen Skiing Corp., Magnetic Video Corp., and Pebble Beach Corp. This expansion marked a significant growth period for the company.
On November 6, 1977, Fox sold 13 acres north of Olympic Boulevard to Ring Brothers, expanding the studio lot to 62.7 acres.
On November 6, 1981, Marvin Davis acquired TCFFC, marking a significant change in the company's ownership.
On November 6, 1984, Marvin Davis transferred Fox Studios’ interests in Aspen Skiing, Pebble Beach and Coca-Cola Bottling into partnerships which he controlled.
On November 6, 1985, Marvin Davis sold his interest in Fox Film to News Corp.
Fox News is an American multinational organization that is today owned by Fox Corporation and is headquartered in New York City. It is known for providing conservative news and political commentary, along with reporting on various other topics.
Shortly before the official launch of FBC on April 5, 1987, under original Fox Entertainment President Garth Ancier, the network underwent a re-branding to the much shorter 'Fox'. This re-branding was suggested by ad man Jay Chiat to link Fox Broadcasting to 20th Century Fox.
On July 11, 1987, the network rolled out its Saturday night schedule with the premiere of the supernatural drama series Werewolf, which began with a two-hour pilot movie event. Three other series were added to the Saturday lineup over the next three weeks.
On November 6, 1987, Fox Plaza was constructed on the northeast corner of the lot, serving as the location for the filming of the first Die Hard film.
Fox had already decided to cancel The Late Show, and had a replacement series in development, The Wilton North Report, when the former series began a ratings resurgence under its final guest host, comedian Arsenio Hall. The Late Show went back to featuring guest hosts, eventually selecting Ross Shafer as its permanent host, only for it to be canceled for good by October 1988.
Upon affiliating with Fox in January 1989, WSVN retained its existing morning, midday and early evening newscasts, while moving its late newscast from 11:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. and expanding it to one hour.
In September 1990, Fox reached an agreement with TCI to establish a cable-only national feed of the network known as Foxnet. This allowed Fox programming to be brought to smaller markets that did not have a default Fox affiliate at the time.
Fox began airing children's programming on September 8, 1990, with the debut of the Fox Children's Network.
On June 6, 1991, the cable-only network Foxnet was launched, bringing Fox programming to smaller markets that did not carry a default Fox affiliate at the time.
In January 1992, Fox aired a special live episode of In Living Color as an alternative to the halftime show during Super Bowl XXVI, marking the start of Fox's rivalry with the 'Big Three' networks and popularizing the counterprogramming strategy against the Super Bowl telecast.
On January 19, 1993, Fox completed its prime time expansion to all seven nights, making it the fifth broadcast network to air programming on a nightly basis.
MADtv debuted on October 14, 1995, and became a solid competitor to NBC's Saturday Night Live for over a decade, running for 14 seasons until 2009.
On May 23, 1994, Fox agreed to purchase a 20% stake in New World Communications, leading to the switch of affiliations of twelve stations to Fox starting in September 1994. This marked a significant expansion of Fox's television station groups.
Fox successfully secured the broadcast rights for the National Football Conference (NFC) for four seasons, marking a significant milestone in the network's history and leading to a major growth period for the NFL.
MADtv debuted on October 14, 1995, and became a solid competitor to NBC's Saturday Night Live for over a decade, running for 14 seasons until 2009.
Fox Television Stations acquired New World outright on July 17, 1996, in a $2.48 billion stock purchase, making the latter's twelve Fox affiliates owned-and-operated stations of the network.
Fox Animation Studios opened and produced its first full-length feature, Anastasia.
During the 1997–98 season, Fox had three shows in the Nielsen Top 20; The X-Files, King of the Hill, and The Simpsons, all of which aired on Sunday nights.
Roger Ailes was hired as the founding CEO of Fox News Channel.
Family Guy and Futurama made their debuts in 1999, but were canceled in 2002 and 2003 respectively. Family Guy was later revived due to strong DVD sales and highly rated cable reruns.
Fox Animation merged with Blue Sky in November 2000 and released Ice Age, which became an iconic franchise.
In October 2001, Fox sold its children's division, Saban Entertainment and Fox Family Worldwide, to The Walt Disney Company for $5.3 billion.
On September 14, 2002, Fox Kids was replaced by a new children's program block called FoxBox.
The animated series Futurama was cancelled in 2003.
On September 12, 2004, Fox started broadcasting its programming in 720p high definition, marking a significant technological advancement for the network.
Fox launched the Animation Domination block on May 1, 2005, featuring original adult animation sitcoms produced by 20th Television.
Starting in 2006, more standardization of the O&Os began to take place both on-air and online, adopting an on-air look more closely aligned with the Fox News Channel.
In 2007, Fox began production on the game shows Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? and Don't Forget the Lyrics, both of which ran for three seasons each, making them the longest-running game shows in Fox's history.
On May 21, 2008, Fox surpassed CBS as the most-watched television network in the United States, attributed to the strengths of Super Bowl XLII, NFL game coverages, American Idol, and House during that season.
Fox largely discontinued analog broadcasts on June 12, 2009, as part of the transition to digital television.
At the dawn of the 2010s, new comedies Raising Hope and New Girl gave Fox its first live-action comedy successes in years.
Fox broadcasted its first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event, Velasquez vs. Dos Santos, marking the beginning of a multi-year agreement with UFC and the first time UFC events were aired on broadcast television.
KNPN-LD in St. Joseph, Missouri has been the smallest Fox affiliate by market size with an in-house news operation since the station's July 2012 sign-on.
Xploration Station, a two-hour syndicated block produced by Steve Rotfeld Productions, began airing on Fox stations on September 13, 2014.
The Animation Domination block was rebranded as Sunday Funday on September 14, 2014, incorporating live-action comedy series into the lineup.
WXIN began producing newscasts for their CBS-affiliated duopoly partners using resources from their existing news departments in January 2015.
Sinclair Broadcast Group adopted Fox 45 News as its universal brand for its news operation in Dayton, Ohio in August 2015.
News-Press & Gazette Company expanded production of KNPN's newscasts to its sister flagship stations, KNPG-LD and KCJO-LD, when they respectively joined NBC and CBS in November 2016.
In February 2017, Fox broadcasted Super Bowl LI, attracting an average of 111.3 million viewers and ranking among the top five most-watched Super Bowl games.
In March 2017, Rob Wade was appointed as Fox's new president of alternative entertainment and specials, bringing with him extensive experience from his previous roles in the entertainment industry.
On July 27, 2018, 21st Century Fox shareholders agreed to sell most of its key assets to The Walt Disney Company for $71.3 billion, marking a significant shift in the company's ownership and structure.
On January 7, 2019, the registration statement for 'New Fox', under the name of the Fox Corporation was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company had spun off from 21CF on March 19, which was the day before the Disney-21CF deal was complete.
On March 19, 2019, the entity known as 'New Fox' officially became Fox Corporation and began trading, signifying a new chapter in the company's history.
The sale of 21st Century Fox's key assets to The Walt Disney Company was completed on March 20, 2019, further solidifying the significant changes in the company's ownership and operations.
Three days after the start of Fox Corporation's independent operation, Chairman and CEO Lachlan Murdoch conducted a town hall meeting.
On April 20, 2020, Fox Corporation acquired the streaming service Tubi for $440 million.
In September 2021, Fox Corporation acquired TMZ from WarnerMedia, with TMZ being operated under the Fox Entertainment division.
In December 2021, Fox Corporation acquired the film and television production studio MarVista Entertainment.
On October 14, 2022, a special committee was established under the instruction of Rupert Murdoch to explore a potential merger of Fox and News Corp.
On January 24, 2023, the proposed merger of Fox and News Corp was abandoned by Murdoch.
Rupert Murdoch announced on September 21, 2023, that he was stepping down as the chairman of Fox Corporation, effective November 2023.
The Q2 FY 2024 Earnings Release is scheduled for February 7, 2024 at 8:30 AM EST. It is an important event for investors and stakeholders to assess the financial performance of the company during the second quarter of the fiscal year 2024.
Multiple SC 13G/A filings were made on February 13, 2024. These filings are significant as they indicate changes in ownership stakes or voting power in the company, which can impact its corporate governance and ownership structure.
Fox Corporation's Chief Operating Officer, John Nallen, is scheduled to take part in the upcoming Deutsche Bank's 32nd Annual Media, Internet & Telecom Conference.
The Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference occurred on March 4, 2024 at 9:30 AM PST.
Deutsche Bank's 32nd Annual Media, Internet & Telecom Conference took place on March 11, 2024 at 9:40 AM EDT.