Murdoch Ditches Fox, News Corp. Merger After Investor Objections

Rupert Murdoch said he was abandoning plans to explore a merger of Fox Corp. and News Corp., two media companies he controls, after investors pushed back on the deal.

Fox said Tuesday that it had received a letter from Murdoch saying that he and his son Lachlan, the chief executive officer of Fox, had determined a combination was “not optimal” for the shareholders at this time. News Corp. issued a similar release. Special committees of the boards that were examining the merger have been dissolved.

The deal, first announced in October, promised to reunite the parents of ...