Media mogul Rupert Murdoch will be stepping down as chairman of Fox and News Corp and handing the reins of his company to his son Lachlan, who will head both companies.

In a memo to employees, Murdoch wrote that “the time is right” for him to take on “different roles”. In mid-November, he will transition to the role of Chairman Emeritus of both firms.

The 92-year-old mogul launched Fox News in 1996. It is presently the most-watched TV news channel in the US.

“Our companies are in robust health, as am I. Our opportunities far exceed our commercial challenges,” he wrote. “We have every reason to be optimistic about the coming years – I certainly am, and plan to be here to participate in them.”

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Who is Lachlan Murdoch?

Lachlan Keith Murdoch was born on September 8, 1971. He holds dual citizenship – Britain and the US. He is a businessman and mass media heir. He is the executive chairman of Nova Entertainment, co-chairman of News Corp, executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corporation, and the founder of Australian investment company Illyria Pty Ltd.

He is the eldest boy of Rupert Murdoch, and his former wife, Scottish journalist and author Anna Maria dePeyster. He received his primary and secondary education at the Aspen Country Day School in Aspen, Colorado, Trinity School in New York City, and Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. In 1994, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Princeton University.

Rupert brought Lachlan Murdoch to Australia while on business, in 1989 to have him trained for three months at the Daily Mirror. At the time, he had just turned 18. At the age of 22, Murdoch was appointed general manager of Queensland Newspapers, the publisher of Brisbane’s Courier-Mail. One year later, he became publisher of Australia’s first national paper, The Australian. In 1995, he was appointed deputy CEO of News Limited, executive director of News Corporation in 1996, and deputy chief operating officer in 2000. He was made senior executive vice president from 1999 to 2000 and has been chairman of STAR since 1995.

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Murdoch founded an Australian private investment company, Illyria Pty Ltd., and developed an eclectic mix of investments, with stakes in the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket team Rajasthan Royals, online DVD rental company Quickflix, toy marketer Funtastic, and digital media company Destra.

Murdoch married model and actress Sarah O’Hare in 1999. The couple have two sons, Kalan Alexander, born on 9 November 2004, and Aidan Patrick, born on May 6, 2006; and one daughter, Aerin Elisabeth, named after his sister and grandmother, born on April 12, 2010.