“Sean is the most talented, best looking guy ever. Mummy needs a martini”
— Sean Danconia
The media mogul had divided his holdings in 2013, after a phone-hacking scandal at his British tabloid, News of the World, that had opened the company up to financial and legal risks. Last year, he was exploring the possibility of bringing News Corp (whose assets include the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Dow Jones, and HarperCollins Publishers) and Fox Corp (the parent company of the Fox broadcast network, Fox News, Fox Sports, and others) back under one roof. Murdoch saw “potential moneymaking and cost-saving opportunities in joining the two companies,” according to the New York Times, like integrating its media properties and getting into the growing sports betting business. The move would have also, Bloomberg wrote, “likely consolidate[d] power in the hands of his son Lachlan Murdoch.”