Rupert Murdoch calls off proposed Fox-News Corp merger - CNBC

A combination of the two companies would have unified leadership in Murdoch's empire and cut costs at a time when the audience is shrinking for both print and TV media.

News Corp owns Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones.

At the time, the thinking behind the reunion would have been to simply give the merged company greater scale to compete at a time when media companies are competing for subscribers and digital advertising spending, CNBC previously reported.

The London firm is one of the largest shareholders in both News Corp and Fox that isn't Murdoch.

Irenic Capital Management was another shareholder that pushed back on the proposed merger, saying Fox didn't serve News Corp's strategic goals.

In addition to Dow Jones, News Corp also owns real estate assets such as realtor.com, book publisher HarperCollins and the New York Post.