Fox News‘ parent company 21st Century Fox announced on Thursday that Roger Ailes has resigned from his post, with 21st Century Fox’s executive chairman Rupert Murdoch taking over as chairman and acting CEO of Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network.
Reports that Megyn Kelly had told 21st Century Fox’s independent investigators that, years ago, Ailes had also made unwanted sexual advances toward her suggested that his fate had been sealed.
In announcing the Ailes’ news, Murdoch praised him as having “made a remarkable contribution to our company and our country,” adding that when he became founding CEO of Fox News, he “shared my vision of a great and independent television organization and executed it brilliantly over 20 great years.”
Rumors had been swirling for weeks that, in the wake of Gretchen Carlson’s sexual-harassment lawsuit against the exec, he was on his way out.