News Corp. says the name of the entertainment company that will survive when its newspapers are spun off into a different company will be 21st Century Fox.
That plays off its movie studio, 20th Century Fox, for the current century. Previously News Corp. planned to call the movie and TV show company Fox Group.
CEO Rupert Murdoch said the new name draws on the rich heritage of the movie studio while hinting at the innovation and dynamism of its properties.
21st Century Fox will hold pay TV channels like FX and Fox News Channel, the Fox broadcast TV network, movie and TV studios under the 20th Century Fox umbrella and European pay TV providers such as Sky Italia.
The publishing company will still be called News Corp.
Details on split
Here’s a breakdown of how the split of News Corp. into two companies–News Corp. and 21st Century Fox–will work:
— Newspapers, book publishing and information services such as Dow Jones Newswires will be part of the publishing company. The 20th Century Fox movie studio, the Fox broadcast TV network and the Fox News Channel will be part of the media and entertainment company.
— Current News Corp. shareholders will get shares in each company, but how many shares and how much each entity will be worth have yet to be determined. Both companies will trade publicly, under different stock tickers.
— The new News Corp. company will be spun off and the existing News Corp. will be renamed 21st Century Fox. The new News Corp. will have $2.56 billion in cash and no debt. That amount is to include a payment of $1.82 billion from what will become 21st Century Fox. Another $741 million is already held in cash by the businesses to be spun off.
— Rupert Murdoch will be chairman of both companies and CEO of the media and entertainment company. Robert Thomson, former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, will become CEO of the publishing company. Murdoch will end up controlling both companies through the nearly 40 percent of Class B voting shares he controls through a family trust.
— News Corp.’s board unanimously approved the split, but it will need to approve a more formal proposal. The deal is also subject to shareholder and numerous regulatory approvals.
— News Corp. plans to hold a special meeting of its shareholders in the first half of 2013 and expects the deal to be completed in mid-2013.
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More