Rupert Murdoch ditches plan to merge Fox and News Corp

Rupert Murdoch has called off a proposal to reunite his broadcasting and publishing media empire.

Mr Murdoch and his eldest son Lachlan Murdoch have announced the decision not to go ahead with the plan because it "is not optimal for shareholders of News Corp and FOX at this time".

The idea was suggested last autumn, almost a decade after the two companies split.

The Murdoch family trust owns about 40% of both companies.

A majority of non-Murdoch family members would have had to approve the deal for it to move forward.

In similar press statements issued by both companies, the Murdochs said special committees set up at Fox and News Corp to review the proposal have been dissolved.

Fox Corp owns the cable network Fox News and Fox Broadcasting Network in addition to the American streaming content platform Tubi. News Corp is the parent company of Dow Jones, which owns the Wall Street Journal, news organisations in the UK and Australia, and HarperCollins Publishers.

It is unclear why the 91-year-old media mogul decided not to move ahead with the merger. However, the suggestion reportedly received resistance from several top shareholders.

News Corp is looking to sell its digital real estate assets. According to people close to the discussion, News Corp is in talks to sell Move Inc, which runs Realtor.com in the US, to its rival CoStar Group.

A company spokesperson would not confirm the discussion. However, he told the BBC that they "continuously evaluates M&A opportunities across a broad range of companies to maximise shareholder value".

News Corp also owns almost two-thirds of Australia's digital real estate company REA.