The Fox News Channel is the most-watched television news and opinion channel in the United States. Created in 1996 by Australian-born media magnate Rupert Murdoch, the conservative channel is responsible for 70% of its parent company's profits before taxes.
The channel is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fox (FOXA -0.21%)(FOX -0.57%). Read on to learn more about the company, including its history and leadership, to find out who owns Fox News.
What is it?
What is Fox News?
Founded in 1996, Fox News Channel is a relative newcomer to the broadcast news wars. Yet, every year since 2002, the 24/7 news organization has been the most-watched television news channel.
The network began with 17 million cable subscribers; it reported 72 million subscribers in 2023. Fox News has continued to expand its reach. The channel is available in more than 40 countries, including Australia, France, India, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, and Spain.
The bad news for investors is that you can't buy its stock directly. You can, however, buy stock in Fox, its parent company, whose brands include FOX News Media, FOX Sports, FOX Entertainment, FOX Television Stations, and Tubi Media Group.
Largest shareholders
Who are the largest shareholders?
The Fox News Channel has been part of Fox since 2019, when it was spun off into a new company formed after the sale of 21st Century Fox to Walt Disney (DIS -0.77%). The initial public offering (IPO) was the largest ever for a U.S. media company.
Shareholder
Unlike most publicly traded companies, Fox is largely controlled by a single family. A trust operated by the Murdoch family and corporate insiders holds approximately 40% of all shares, giving the family control of the corporation. Fox has a dual-share system, with limited voting Class A shares and voting Class B shares.
Individuals
Individual family members with shares in the network include:
- Rupert Murdoch is the founder and owner of News Corp (NWSA -1.09%)(NWS -0.52%), one of the world's largest news organizations. The company owns newspapers and television channels in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It's separate from Fox, which operates Fox News. Murdoch, 93, stepped down as chairman of both Fox and News Corp in September 2023.
- Lachlan Murdoch is the oldest son of Rupert Murdoch. He worked in a number of different positions for News Corp before leaving in 2005 to launch an investment firm. He returned to the company in 2014 and was named chief executive of 21st Century Fox. The younger Murdoch became executive chairman and CEO of Fox in 2019 and chairman of News Corp when his father retired.
- Elisabeth Murdoch is the elder Murdoch's youngest child from his second marriage. She is a film producer who founded media and entertainment company Shine Group in 2001; it was sold to 21st Century Fox in 2011. She is a co-founder and executive chairman of Sister, a television and film production and development company.
- James Murdoch is the elder Murdoch's youngest son from his second marriage. He was named CEO of the British newspaper division of News Corp in 2007 but resigned in 2012 as part of the fallout from a phone hacking scandal. He was CEO of 21st Century Fox from 2015 until 2019, when the company was sold to Disney. He resigned from the News Corp board in 2020 over disagreements with the direction of the company's news outlets.
Institutional investors
Institutional investors own a little more than 54% of Fox shares, with 10 accounting for almost one-third of the outstanding total. They include:
- Vanguard Group: 14.2 million shares worth $461 million (6% of total)
- BlackRock (BLK 0.51%): 13.4 million shares worth $434.6 million (5.7%)
- Dodge & Cox: 11.3 million shares worth $368 million (4.8%)
- Yacktman Asset Management: 8.7 million shares worth $283.3 million (3.7%)
- State Street (STT 0.64%): 8.7 million shares worth $282.4 million (3.7%)
- State of Wisconsin Investment Board: 6.2 million shares worth $201 million (2.6%)
- Independent Franchise Partners: 4.4 million shares worth $142.3 million (1.9%)
- Geode Capital Management: 3 million shares worth $97.1 million (1.3%)
- American Century Companies: 2.8 million shares worth $91 million (1.2%)
- Norges Bank Investment Management: 2.6 million shares worth $82.8 million (1.1%)
Board of directors
Who is on the board of directors for Fox News?
The following seven individuals serve on the board of directors for Fox.
Board of Directors
- Lachlan Murdoch is the executive chair and CEO of Fox. According to the company, he is responsible for "the company's premier portfolio of news, sports and entertainment assets."
- Tony Abbott was elected as a director in 2023. Abbott was prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. Before being elected to parliament in 1994, Abbott was a journalist at The Australian, a newspaper founded in 1964 by the elder Murdoch.
- William Burck was appointed to the board in 2021. He is a managing partner of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. He was a staff secretary, special counsel, and deputy White House Counsel to former U.S. President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2009.
- Chase Carey was appointed to the board in 2019 and is the lead independent director. He was chairman of Formula 1 from 2016 to 2022 and CEO from 2017 to 2021. Carey worked in a number of roles at 21st Century Fox from 1996 until its sale to Disney in 2019.
- Roland Hernandez was appointed to the board in 2019. He was chief executive of Telemundo Group from 1995 to 2000 and chairman from 1998 to 2000. He is also the founder and chief executive of Hernandez Media Ventures.
- Margaret Johnson was elected a director in 2023. She was the vice president of business development at Microsoft (MSFT -0.93%) from 2014 to 2020 and CEO of Magic Leap from 2020 through 2023. She has been a member of the board of directors of BlackRock since 2018.
- Paul Ryan was appointed to the board in 2019. He is a general partner at Solamere Capital, a private equity firm. Ryan was a Wisconsin congressman for more than two decades and served as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019.
How to invest
How to invest in Fox News
To buy shares of Fox, you'll need a brokerage account. If you still need to open one, these are some of the best-rated brokers and trading platforms. Here's a step-by-step guide to buying Fox stock using the five-star-rated platform Fidelity.
Fidelity makes it easy to buy stocks. Its website offers a video tutorial and a step-by-step guide. Here's a screenshot of how to place a stock trade with Fidelity:
On the page above, you would need to fill out all the relevant information, including:
- The number of shares you want to buy or the amount you want to invest to purchase fractional shares.
- The ticker symbol (FOX for Fox).
- Whether you want to place a limit order or a market order. Know the difference between a market order and a limit order. The Motley Fool recommends using a market order since it guarantees you buy shares immediately at market price.
Before you hit the "Place Order" button, figure out your budget. Are you in a position to invest in the market? Have you paid down high-interest credit card balances and created an emergency fund? How much can you spend? Do you want to buy all your Fox shares at once or periodically through dollar-cost averaging? These are all very good questions for investors to ask -- and answer.
Next, do your homework. You may want to skip Fox stock if:
- You believe television news will continue to decline as an information source.
- You doubt the ability of a second generation of Murdochs to succeed.
- You think Fox shares are trading at unrealistically high prices.
- Your portfolio already has enough media stocks.
On the other hand, you may want to go ahead and buy Fox stock if:
- You think it's important to have a conservative news channel.
- You think television news will continue to be a major source of information.
- You'd like to balance your portfolio with a media stock.
- You think Fox stock is undervalued.
As with any other investment, there's a short answer to why you might consider investing in this stock: It depends. Factors that might affect your decision include the level of your portfolio diversification, personal risk tolerance, company and industry knowledge, and assessment of Fox's competitive position.
If you've decided the pros of investing in the company outweigh the cons, complete the order page, click the "Place Order" button at the bottom, and become a Fox shareholder.
Related investing topics
The bottom line on Fox News
The media landscape has been extremely unsettled for more than two decades; witness the chaos sparked by mergers and acquisitions such as the AOL-Time Warner merger (2000), News Corp's acquisition of Dow Jones (2007), Comcast's (CMCSA -1.11%) purchase of NBC Universal (2009), Jeff Bezos' purchase of The Washington Post (2013), the CBS Corp.-Viacom merger (2019), or the New Media Investment Group's acquisition of Gannett (GCI -1.91%) (2019).
Unlike many media companies, Fox News' ownership is relatively stable, and the division of media into print properties owned by News Corp and broadcast holdings managed by Fox may insulate investors from downturns in either segment.
The media industry has been changing rapidly, though, and even stable ownership is unlikely to insulate a company from the ups and downs of a changing landscape. Investors would be wise to prepare for continued volatility, even in a family-controlled business like Fox.
FAQ
Which company owns Fox News: FAQ
Who is Fox News owned by?
Fox News is a subsidiary of Fox, which owns FOX News Media, FOX Sports, FOX Entertainment, FOX Television Stations, and Tubi Media Group. The Murdoch family controls Fox.
What is the parent company of Fox News?
The parent company of Fox News is Fox.
Are Fox and CNN owned by the same company?
Fox and CNN are not owned by the same company. Fox News is owned by Fox; CNN is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD).
What companies does Rupert Murdoch own?
Australian-born media magnate Rupert Murdoch and his family control Fox, which includes Fox News and other broadcast assets, and News Corp, which consists primarily of newspaper holdings.
