When people ask who owns Fox, they're usually trying to untangle decades of corporate spin-offs, mergers, and family trust structures. The short answer is that Fox Corporation is a publicly traded media enterprise controlled primarily by the Murdoch family through a dedicated family trust. While millions of shares trade daily on the Nasdaq exchange, voting power remains concentrated at the top.
To understand how ownership works today, we have to look past popular confusion between the historic 21st Century Fox, the modern Fox Corporation, and Walt Disney's massive 2019 acquisition.
The Murdoch Family Trust and Voting Control
The cornerstone of Fox Corporation's ownership is the Murdoch Family Trust, which holds approximately 39% of the company's voting shares. This ownership model uses a dual-class stock structure. Class B shares carry voting rights, while Class A shares are non-voting.
By maintaining control over the voting shares, the trust dictates the corporate direction, board appointments, and long-term strategy of the media group without needing a majority of the overall economic stake. Lachlan Murdoch serves as the executive chair and CEO of Fox Corporation, guiding the company following the retirement of his father, Rupert Murdoch.
Major Institutional Shareholders
Aside from the Murdoch family, a significant portion of Fox Corporation's economic interest belongs to major institutional asset managers. Because Fox Corporation is a publicly traded entity on the Nasdaq under tickers FOXA and FOX, large financial institutions hold substantial blocks of shares on behalf of mutual funds and index portfolios.
Key institutional stakeholders include:
- The Vanguard Group: Typically holds a double-digit percentage of outstanding shares, primarily distributed across passive index funds and exchange-traded funds.
- BlackRock: Manages broad equity positions through institutional investment products and index tracking vehicles.
- Dodge & Cox: An active investment management firm holding a notable multi-million share stake.
- State Street Corporation: Maintains custody and investment management holdings via index-linked funds.
Even though these institutions control large blocks of equity, their voting influence is limited by the dual-class share architecture that protects the Murdoch family's voting majority. You can review ongoing financial disclosures directly via the Fox Corporation Investor Relations portal.
What Happened to 21st Century Fox?
Much of the public confusion surrounding Fox's ownership stems from the monumental transaction that took place in March 2019. The Walt Disney Company completed a $71.3 billion acquisition of the majority of 21st Century Fox's entertainment assets.
Before that deal, 21st Century Fox housed both news and entertainment. When Disney bought the studio lot, film production units (now rebranded as 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures), television production studios, and international assets like Star India, the remaining assets were spun off into the standalone Fox Corporation.
Assets that stayed with the Murdoch-controlled Fox Corporation included:
- Fox News Media: Comprising Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network.
- Fox Sports: Including major broadcast sports rights and national programming.
- Fox Broadcasting Company: The core broadcast network.
- Tubi Media Group: The ad-supported streaming platform.
- Fox Television Stations: Owned-and-operated local broadcast stations across the United States.
For a deeper look at how the regulatory environment shaped this transaction, you can read historical reports on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings archive.
Core Divisions of Fox Corporation
Today's Fox Corporation operates as a streamlined domestic news, sports, and broadcast entity rather than a global movie studio. Its business model relies heavily on live sports broadcasting and cable news viewership.
The company generates the vast majority of its pre-tax profits from Fox News Media, making cable subscriber fees and advertising revenues vital to its financial health. Meanwhile, Fox Sports anchors its live-event strategy, securing long-term rights for properties like the National Football League, college sports, and major soccer tournaments. Tubi represents the company's primary hedge against traditional cable cord-cutting, capturing younger, digital-first audiences.
Common Misconceptions About Fox Ownership
When analyzing media conglomerates, readers often run into a few persistent myths. Clearing these up makes the corporate landscape much clearer:
- Myth: Disney owns Fox News. Disney acquired the entertainment production assets of 21st Century Fox, but it has no ownership stake in Fox News, Fox Sports, or Fox Corporation. Those entities were explicitly separated prior to the Disney merger.
- Myth: Fox is entirely privately held. While the Murdoch family controls the voting rights, the company is publicly traded on the Nasdaq. Anyone can buy non-voting Class A shares through a brokerage account.
- Myth: Rupert Murdoch still runs day-to-day operations. Rupert Murdoch stepped down as chairman of Fox Corporation in late 2023, transitioning to chairman emeritus, while Lachlan Murdoch handles the executive leadership.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can regular investors buy shares in Fox?
Yes. Fox Corporation offers two classes of stock on the Nasdaq exchange: Class A (ticker: FOXA) and Class B (ticker: FOX). Buying these shares gives you an economic stake in the company's profits, but Class A shares do not carry voting power.
Is News Corp the same company as Fox Corporation?
No. While both companies trace their roots back to the original Murdoch media empire and share common family trust oversight, they split into separate publicly traded entities in 2013. News Corp handles publishing assets, newspapers, and book publishing, whereas Fox Corporation focuses on broadcasting, news, and sports.
What is a dual-class share structure?
A dual-class share structure divides a company's stock into different categories with unequal voting rights. At Fox Corporation, this structure ensures that the Murdoch Family Trust retains roughly 39% of the voting power, keeping corporate governance stable and resistant to external hostile takeovers, even though public shareholders own the economic majority of the equity.
Who sits on the Fox Corporation board of directors?
The board includes executive leadership like Lachlan Murdoch, independent directors with backgrounds in media and law, and figures like former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The board oversees corporate governance, executive compensation, and audit procedures.
