James Murdoch, the beneficiary of an extra $1.1 billion thanks to a settlement that extricated himself from his older brother and father’s News Corp and Fox empires, may getting back in to the media operating game in a big way.
Rupert Murdoch’s younger son is said to be in talks with Vox Media about buying New York magazine and Vox podcast division assets, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources. A rep for James Murdoch declined to comment on the story from the paper, which said the deal could still fall apart.
Ever since exiting his perch as CEO of 21st Century Fox after most of its assets were sold to Disney in a $71.3 billion deal, Murdoch has focused his efforts on building up his venture company Lupa Systems. His firm has taken a stake in the owner of Art Basel as well as Tribeca Enterprises, which puts on the Tribeca Film Festival, among other assets.
Buying New York would be more akin to being a steward to one of the magazine world’s last standing giants — and it’s a publication that was also owned by his father for a 15-year run until Rupert’s News Corp divested of its holdings in 1991 sale.
New York, in its latest incarnation, has been owned by Vox Media since 2019, when the new media publisher picked up the publication from Pamela Wasserstein, the daughter of investment banker Bruce Wasserstein, who had owned the magazine since 2004.
Murdoch would be vaulted more prominently into the world of billionaires who own a single, influential news outlet, like Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post or Laurene Powell Jobs’ at The Atlantic or Marc Benioff at Time magazine or Patrick Soon-Shiong with The Los Angeles Times.
Despite his role as the heir to a famously swash-buckling, conservative-leaning media empire comprised of Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and New York Post among its TV and publishing assets, James has studiously distanced himself from his older brother Lachlan’s politics and positioned himself as a centrist, donating to climate change non-profits and Democrat-leaning causes.
More to come.
