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.
Michelle Satter To Be Honored At Sundance Film Festival Gala
The nonprofit Sundance Institute today announced details for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s gala fundraiser, Celebrating Sundance Institute, which will take place on Friday, January 24, 2025 at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley in Utah. The event will be an evening in celebration of Michelle Satter, founding sr. director of artist programs at Sundance Institute, for her longstanding commitment to nurturing artists and cultivating independent film through the Sundance Labs, where visionary artists convene to develop groundbreaking projects through an in-depth creative process, for the past four decades. The annual Vanguard Awards will be presented during the evening to Sean Wang, writer and director of Dìdi, and Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, co-directors of Sugarcane, who premiered their films at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
The annual gala enables the nonprofit to raise funds to support independent artists year-round through labs, grants, and public programming that nurture artists from all over the world. The 2025 event is made possible with the generous support of Google TV. The Festival will take place from January 23–February 2, 2025, in person in Park City and Salt Lake City, with a selection of titles available online from January 30–February 2, 2025 for audiences across the country to discover bold independent storytelling.
“For over four decades Michelle has been devoted to truly championing independent storytellers,” said Amanda Kelso, acting CEO of Sundance Institute. “She has encouraged artists to own their voice, learn their craft, become fierce leaders, and develop their resilience in our changing ecosystem. Her life-long commitment to supporting artists, especially in underrepresented... Read More