James Murdoch, former chief executive of 21st Century Fox and son of Rupert Murdoch, has resigned from the News Corp. board of directors over “disagreements over certain editorial content” published by the company’s news outlets, per an investor filing.
His brief letter reads as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I hereby tender my resignation as a member of the Board of Directors of News Corporation (the “Company”), effective as of the date hereof.
My resignation is due to disagreements over certain editorial content published by the Company’s news outlets and certain other strategic decisions.
Sincerely,
James R. Murdoch
News Corp’s brands include the Dow Jones — the parent company of the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and MarketWatch — as well as the New York Post, Storyful and Australian publications the Australian, the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Telegraph, among others.
His father, the elder Murdoch, has been executive chairman of News Corp since 2013 after the company was separated from 21st Century Fox, and is also the chairman and founder of Fox Corp, which operates Fox News, Fox Sports, Fox Entertainment and Fox television stations. His brother Lachlan Murdoch is the executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corp and co-chairman of News Corp.
Both Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch remain on the News Corp. board, which is now left with 10 directors.
At Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit last fall, James Murdoch — who told Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Radhika Jones that he does not watch Fox News — called opinion programming on U.S. cable news not “terribly helpful,” but also assigned blame to “crazily damaging” talk radio. His privately held investment vehicle Lupa Systems, created after he exited 21st Century Fox following its acquisition by the Walt Disney Co., currently has a minority stake in media entities such as Vice Media and Tribeca Enterprises.