Big ·Social MediaMurdochs, burned on MySpace, seek return to social with TikTokBy Christopher PalmeriBy BloombergBy Christopher PalmeriBy Bloomberg Former Executive Chairman of Fox Corp Rupert Murdoch and Oracle co-founder, CTO and Executive Chairman Larry Ellison listen as U.S.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on February 03, 2025 in Washington, DC. Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesA Fox Corp.
investment in TikTok would give the Murdoch media empire a platform with 170 million US users to mote a broad range of TV gramming — from the NFL to The Simpsons — and a chance to redeem the family’s catastrophic purchase of MySpace 20 years ago.
Fox is considering making an investment in TikTok as part of a group that includes Oracle Corp., Andreessen Horowitz and Silver Lake Management in a deal orchestrated by the US government, Bloomberg News reported.
President Donald Trump said Sunday that Fox Chief Executive Officer Lachlan Murdoch and his father Rupert would have a role in the .
The Trump administration is pushing for the sale of TikTok’s American operations to comply with a law requiring the app’s Chinese owner to divest or face a ban on the platform in the US.
The legislation was passed in the wake of concerns that TikTok accesses personal information on Americans.
A potential tie-in with the TikTok service will help Fox reach young audiences in new ways, exposing them to everything from broadcast TV shows to ing es the ad-supported Tubi and Fox One, a paid online platform.
Rupert Murdoch, founder of both Fox and News Corp., bought the social media service MySpace in 2005 for $580 million.
That , which was with musicians looking to mote their music, ultimately couldn’t keep up with changing consumer tastes and the rise of Facebook.
Murdoch sold the company six years later for $35 million. The details of Fox’s posed TikTok investment aren’t known. A spokesperson for the company declined to . TikTok is owned by ByteDance Ltd.
The Murdochs control the -focused News Corp. and Fox, the parent of Fox News and other channels. They’ve had some success with minority investments.
Fox owns a 2.4% stake in Flutter Entertainment Plc, one of the largest online betting companies in the world. It also has an option to purchase a 19% stake in FanDuel, Flutter’s US arm.
Rupert Murdoch retired as chairman of both companies in 2023, but has still been involved in major decisions.
A news hound who has long played an active role in shaping political fortunes from the UK to his native Australia, Murdoch would potentially gain a voice at an influential social media company, with people who don’t to conventional pay TV or ed publications.
The Murdochs recently restructured a family trust to give Lachlan Murdoch control of their empire. The posed TikTok deal comes three years after Elon Musk purchased Twitter and renamed the service X.
Last week, Bloomberg reported that sales at dropped slightly during the second quarter from the first quarter, signaling that the social network has struggled to build on the spending that rushed in when Musk was at the center of US .Fortune Global Forum returns Oct.
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