Lachlan Murdoch\u2019s top adviser \u2013 News Corp\u2019s Australian broadcasting chief Siobhan McKenna \u2013 has resigned from the company following the sale of the Foxtel Group to global sports streaming service DAZN.<\/p>\n
As chief executive of broadcasting for News Corp, McKenna\u2019s role had significantly diminished after the pay TV<\/a> and streaming business, which includes Kayo, Binge and Hubbl, was sold to the European broadcaster in April.<\/p>\n A former partner at McKinsey & Company, McKenna was Murdoch\u2019s key adviser<\/a> in the epic family trust case, which saw him take control of his father\u2019s global media empire and secure the future of the Australian stable of newspapers, magazines and news channels.<\/p>\n The 53-year-old businessperson was heavily involved in the negotiations with Rupert Murdoch\u2019s three \u201cobjecting children\u201d in the Nevada court case, which was settled in the US last month<\/a>. The three oldest siblings received an estimated US$1.1bn each for their shares in the business.<\/p>\n Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n McKenna will leave the company at the end of the year, staff were told by News Corp\u2019s global chief executive, Robert Thomson, in an email on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n \u201cHer decision, and it is her decision, is essentially epochal as Siobhan has been a transformational force during her years with News Corp,\u201d Thomson said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe word \u2018visionary\u2019 is often abused, but not in Siobhan\u2019s case, as her ability to perceive the future from the haze-shrouded shapes on the horizon is nonpareil. She is irreplaceable.\u201d<\/p>\n Siobhan McKenna has been a key lieutenant of Lachlan Murdoch. Photograph: Drew Angerer\/Getty Images<\/p>\n McKenna and Lachlan set up the private investment company Illyria 20 years ago, having both great success with Nova Entertainment and significant losses when he took over the Ten network in 2012 before it went into voluntary administration in 2017<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Albanese government appointed McKenna as chair of Australia Post in 2022, citing her commercial, strategic, digital and technology experience.<\/p>\n Thomson said McKenna navigated Sky News Australia and Foxtel through a \u201ctreacherous tech landscape\u201d and made them into \u201cglobal success stories\u201d.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cThe worth of Foxtel was instinctively appreciated by the global leader in sports streaming, DAZN, which recently acquired the company, and with whom we have an ongoing partnership,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cSky was transformed from a traditional broadcaster to a digital powerhouse whose efficacious impact stretches far beyond the borders of Australia. The success of both companies marks a profound turning point for our company and a professional inflexion point for Siobhan.\u201d<\/p>\n Lachlan is the chair of News Corp, the parent company of more than two dozen publications including the Wall Street Journal, The Times and the New York Post, after he succeeded his father in 2023 and executive chair and CEO of Fox Corporation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lachlan Murdoch\u2019s top adviser \u2013 News Corp\u2019s Australian broadcasting chief Siobhan McKenna \u2013 has resigned from the company…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259923,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,3,452,453],"class_list":{"0":"post-259922","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}