Fox News / Fox Business
U.S. right
Background
Fox News Channel launched on October 7, 1996, founded by Australian-American media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who hired former Republican media consultant Roger Ailes as the network's founding CEO. The channel was explicitly designed to appeal to conservative viewers and counter what its founders described as liberal bias in mainstream television news, using the slogan 'Fair and Balanced.' Fox News grew rapidly and became the top-rated U.S. cable news network by the early 2000s, a position it has largely held since. Fox Business Network launched in 2007 as a competitor to CNBC, targeting business and financial news audiences. Roger Ailes resigned in 2016 following sexual harassment allegations, and subsequent investigations uncovered a broader pattern of workplace misconduct that led to major legal settlements. In 2019, most of Rupert Murdoch's entertainment assets were sold to Walt Disney Company; Fox Corporation was spun off as a separate company retaining Fox News, Fox Business, and Fox broadcast properties. A major reputational and legal crisis came in 2023 when Fox settled a defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million; internal documents showed that senior Fox executives and prominent on-air hosts privately doubted the 2020 election fraud claims the network was publicly amplifying. In September 2025, Rupert Murdoch settled a family succession dispute, giving his son Lachlan sole voting control over Fox Corporation and News Corp through 2050, cementing the network's continued conservative editorial direction.
Sources
- Fox News – Wikipedia
- History of Fox News – Wikipedia
- Fox News controversies – Wikipedia
- Fox Corporation – Wikipedia
- Fox Corporation – Britannica Money
- Murdoch family in Fox, News Corp succession deal: Lachlan gains control – Axios
- Rupert Murdoch settles family succession battle with payout – NPR
- Fox News projecting $500 million in non-cable TV revenue for 2025 – Axios
- Affiliate fees continue to drive revenue during Fox Q1 – The Desk
- United States – Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026
Profile compiled 2026-07-01; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.