Sept 21 (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch has stepped down as
the chairman of Fox and News Corp, ending a
seven-decade career that began from his father's Australian
newspaper business and culminated in one of the most influential
media empires.
    With deals for companies like Dow Jones, Sky and 21st
Century Fox, Murdoch built a media behemoth that controlled
large swaths of news, publishing and film industries.
    Here's a timeline of key milestones through Murdoch's
career:
    
 YEAR        EVENT
 1952        Murdoch inherits his father's Australian newspaper
             "The News" at the age of 21. In 1953, he becomes
             its editor and publisher and joins the board of
             News Ltd.  
 1969        He acquires News of the World and turns it into
             the most widely read English-language weekly in
             the world, eventually amassing scores of
             newspapers and magazines.
 1973        Enters the U.S. market with the purchase of San
             Antonio Express and the San Antonio News.
 1976        Acquires New York Post for $30 million.
 1981        His company News International buys the Times and
             Sunday Times
 1985        Buys 50% of 21st Century Fox
 1986        News Corporation acquires Metromedia, which
             included six television stations that would lay
             the foundation for Fox network.
 1987        Buys U.S. publisher Harper & Row
 1989        Forms publisher HarperCollins through merger of
             the two companies. Launches Sky Television in the
             UK
 1996        Launches Fox News
 1998        Fox Entertainment Group went public
 2004        Murdoch enacts an emergency poison pill provision
             after Liberty Media Chairman John Malone quietly
             snaps up close to 20% of News Corp voting shares.
 2007        Acquires the Wall Street Journal publisher Dow
             Jones for $5.6 billion.
 2011        Shuts the weekly British tabloid, News of the
             World, after a far-reaching phone hacking scandal
             that rocked his empire, the Murdoch family and the
             British establishment.
 2013        Splits News Corporation assets into News Corp and
             21st Century Fox
 Dec, 2017   Disney strikes a deal to buy film, television and
             international businesses from Twenty-First Century
             Fox for $52.4 billion in stock
 May, 2018   Lachlan Murdoch replaces brother James as Fox CEO
             after Disney deal.
 Sept, 2018  21st Century Fox agrees to sell its 39% stake in
             Sky to Comcast, completing the U.S. cable group's
             takeover and ending Murdoch's ties with the
             UK-based satellite broadcaster.
 March,      Walt Disney         closes its $71 billion
 2019        acquisition of Twenty-First Century Fox's film and
             television assets.
 Feb, 2021   Electronic voting systems maker Smartmatic sues
             Fox News and Rudolph Giuliani, a lawyer for former
             President Donald Trump, claiming they falsely
             accused the company of helping to rig the U.S.
             presidential election in favor of Joe Biden.
 March,      Dominion Voting Systems Corp files a $1.6 billion
 2021        defamation lawsuit against Fox News, accusing it
             of trying to boost its ratings by falsely claiming
             the company rigged the 2020 U.S. presidential
             election against Donald Trump.
 Oct, 2022   Murdoch starts a process to reunite his media
             empire, News Corp          and Fox Corp         ,
             saying they would consider combining at his
             behest, nearly a decade after the companies split.
 Jan, 2023   Murdoch scraps proposal to reunite News Corp and
             Fox Corp as the company was also exploring a sale
             of Move Inc.
 April,      Fox settles a defamation lawsuit by Dominion
 2023        Voting Systems for $787.5 million, over US
             election lies. A week later Fox News Media and
             top-rated host Tucker Carlson agree to part ways.
 September,  Murdoch steps down as chairman of Fox and News
 2023        Corp, cementing his son Lachlan's role as the
             leader of the media empire. Lachlan will be the
             chairman of News Corp and continue as the chair
             and CEO of Fox.
 
 (Reporting by Chavi Mehta and Samrhitha Arunasalam in
Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Zaheer Kachwala; Editing by
Arun Koyyur)