It probably shouldn't surprise anyone when a 92-year-old announces his retirement. And yet the media and entertainment worlds were aflutter this week at the news that the billionaire mogul Rupert Murdoch—the man who was famously never going to retire from Fox News and News Corp—would be stepping down from his chairman roles at both companies. The founder is putting his 50-year-old son Lachlan Murdoch in control of his sprawling empire, which includes some of the world’s most influential and provocative news, opinion, and entertainment outlets.
In a memo to his thousands of employees, the older Murdoch preemptively deflected any suggestion that the move might be connected to his advanced age. “Our companies are in robust health," he wrote, "as am I.”
