Fox Corp., the successor to 21st Century Fox, began trading Tuesday as a separate company, completing the distribution of outstanding shares of Fox Corp. to its shareholders earlier in the day and adding four new members to its board of directors.
Fox agreed to sell its cable networks FX, FXX and National Geographic, its 20th Century Fox film and TV production studios and its 30% interest in online video pioneer Hulu to Disney for $71.3 billion in cash and stock in July. With the share distribution complete, Fox said it is on track to officially close the Disney deal by 12:02 a.m. on March 20.
After the Disney sale, Fox Corp. will house the remaining assets -- the Fox broadcast network, 28 television stations, and cable channels Fox News, Fox Business, FS1 and FS2 and the Big Ten Network. Fox Corp. will keep its old trading symbol (FOXA) on the NASDAQ Exchange.
Joining co-chairman Rupert Murdoch, his son Fox Corp. chairman and CEO Lachlan Murdoch and former Ford Motor Co. CEO Jacques Nasser on the board will be former 21st Century Fox chief operating officer and current Formula 1 chairman and CEO Chase Carey; former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Paul Ryan, Aragon Holdings founder Anne Dais and former Telemundo Group chief and Hernandez Media Ventures CEO and founder Roland Hernandez.
“We are thrilled to welcome our new colleagues to the Fox board," Lachlan Murdoch said in a press release. "We look forward to working with and being guided by them as we begin a new chapter, steadfastly committed to providing the best in news, sports and entertainment programming.”
