James Murdoch’s Revenge Tour Starts at ‘New York’

James Murdoch’s agreement to buy New York magazine, Vox.com and the Vox suite of podcasts has media watchers wondering if this is the start of an attempt to build a rival to his brother Lachlan’s Fox empire, or an attempt to use his father’s money to buy cultural cachet. 

A few months ago, James’ name cropped up as a potential buyer for CNN, according to a source familiar with the discussions, before Paramount made its winning bid for the network’s parent, Warner Bros. Discovery. 

Now his $300 million purchase of New York looks like the beginnings of a revenge tour for being passed over in favor of his elder brother as head of the massive family business — and a response to a humiliating question posed by one of Rupert Murdoch’s lawyers. In 2024, amid the high-profile legal battle over the family trust, the lawyer asked: “Have you ever done anything successful on your own?”

James had a long run at his father’s empire. He ran its pan-Asian satellite platform, StarTV, before being named chief executive of BSkyB, the British pay-TV giant, then executive chairman of News International, whose holdings include The News of the World tabloid.

But he ran into a career roadblock in 2011, after The Guardian revealed extensive phone hacking by The News of the World during his time running its parent company. He landed back in New York and rose to become chief executive of 21st Century Fox in 2015 until Disney bought the bulk of its assets in 2019. He fell out with his father and brother over political and business differences, and he quit the News Corp board in 2020. His resignation letter cited “disagreements over certain editorial content published by the Company’s news outlets and certain other strategic decisions.”

Now James is building a “mini Condé Nast, a mini luxury media company, where you have a very high net-worth audience that controls opinion and cultural relevance,” one source familiar with the conversations tells me. This person added that they could see James peeling off a Condé Nast title if one became available. 

“I think what James wants is cultural relevance amongst the sort of people that wouldn’t speak to him because of his last name,” this person continues. 

I spoke to media veterans, Vox insiders and people with knowledge of the Murdoch family and businesses about whether James’ New York buy is the start of a real empire or a very expensive reputation cleanse. I also asked what his arrival could mean for the magazine’s staffers, especially its award-winning editor, David Haskell, and what is really going on with some of the names being whispered in media circles who might join the fold.