James Murdoch, a media and tech investor who is the younger son of Rupert Murdoch, is reportedly in advanced negotiations to buy Vox Media-owned New York magazine and Vox’s podcast network.
Murdoch’s Lupa Systems investment firm is in talks with Vox Media about a deal but it “could still fall apart,” the Wall Street Journal reported. CNN confirmed the talks and reported that Lupa was offering “$300 million or more” for the Vox Media properties.
A rep for Vox Media declined to comment. Reps for Lupa Systems did not respond to a request for comment.
In March, the New York Times reported that Versant Media, parent of cable networks CNBC and MS NOW, was in “early” talks about a deal to buy Vox Media’s podcast portfolio.
Rupert Murdoch once owned New York magazine: He acquired it in a hostile takeover in 1976, then sold his holdings in the magazine business in 1991. New York magazine was bought by investment banker Bruce Wasserstein in 2004 for $55 million. His daughter Pam Wasserstein took over as CEO of New York Media before inking a deal for the company’s sale to Vox Media in 2019, which included the flagship magazine and the Vulture pop-culture site, in an all-stock deal designed to gain synergies of scale. In December 2021, Vox Media merged with Group Nine Media.
James Murdoch served as CEO of 21st Century Fox from 2015 to 2019, prior to Disney’s deal to acquire the Fox assets. In 2020 he resigned from the News Corp’s board over “disagreements over certain editorial content” published by the company’s news outlets.
New York-based Lupa Systems owns a controlling stake in Tribeca Enterprises and holds a 49% stake in MCH Group, which runs the worldwide Art Basel fairs. Among other investments, Lupa owned a stake in Vice Media Group, before Vice’s post-bankruptcy sale to a consortium of former lenders wiped out the value of other shareholders including Lupa.
In September 2025, the Murdoch family announced the settlement of a long-running legal dispute that left Lachlan Murdoch, the elder son of Rupert, in control of voting shares for both News Corp and Fox Corp. Under the agreement, Lachlan is buying out the stakes of three of Rupert Murdoch’s other children — James Murdoch, Prudence MacLeod and Elisabeth Murdoch, each of whom received about $1.1 billion in the deal — after they had challenged their father’s ability to restructure his heirs’ oversight of both corporations.
Vox Media’s slate of 40-plus original podcasts includes “Pivot,” hosted by Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway; “Pretty Tough” with tennis champ Maria Sharapova; “Stay Tuned With Preet,” hosted by Preet Bahara, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York; “Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast,” hosted by YouTuber and tech reviewer Marques Brownlee; Brené Brown’s “The Curiosity Shop”; and “The Downside With Gianmarco Soresi,” hosted by comedian Gianmarco Soresi and actor Russell Daniels.
Disclosure: Penske Media Corp., owner of Variety, acquired a minority stake in Vox Media in 2023. PMC invested $100 million in Vox Media for a 20% stake, the New York Times reported.
