Roger Ailes has resigned as chairman and chief executive of Fox News Channel following allegations of sexual harassment, an abrupt end to his 20-year rein over America’s most lucrative and powerful cable news channel for conservatives.
Rupert Murdoch, 85, the executive chairman of Twenty-First Century Fox, the parent of Fox News, will assume the role of CEO Fox News and Fox Business Network on an interim basis, the company said.
Ailes, who will serve as an informal adviser to Rupert Murdoch and no longer have an official role at the company, will receive a severance package of about $40mn, according to a source familiar with the situation, who asked to remain anonymous.
In his resignation letter to Murdoch, Ailes did not indicate he had done anything wrong.
“I take particular pride in the role that I have played advancing the careers of the many women I have promoted to executive and on-air positions,” Ailes wrote in the letter, which his lawyer Susan Estrich provided to Reuters.
However, he added: “I will not allow my presence to become a distraction from the work that must be done every day to ensure that Fox News and Fox Business continue to lead our industry.”
The resignation marks a swift downfall for Ailes, the 76-year-old media executive who advised several US Republican presidents, including George H W
Bush, and turned Fox News into the most-watched US cable news channel.
Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson sued Ailes earlier this month, claiming sexual harassment. Ailes has denied the charges.
Fox hired a law firm to conduct an internal investigation.
New York magazine followed up with reports of other women who said they had been harassed by Ailes.
On Tuesday, the magazine said that popular Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly had told investigators hired by Fox that Ailes “made unwanted sexual advances toward her” about 10 years ago.
Ailes, who founded the cable channel in 1996, did not sexually harass Kelly, according to a statement attributed to his lawyer in the New York Times on Tuesday.
The resignation comes as Fox News, known for a lineup of politically conservative commentators including best-selling author Bill O’Reilly, is drawing record viewership.
The network is the most-watched channel in all of basic cable television this year with an average of 2.2mn prime-time viewers, according to Nielsen data through June.
Whoever replaces Ailes faces the twin challenges of retaining Fox News’ established on-air stars such as O’Reilly and Kelly, while making the network attractive to younger viewers, a demographic it has consistently missed.
O’Reilly and Kelly’s contracts are up in 2017, and stars including Greta Van Susteren and Sean Hannity all have clauses in their contracts that allow them to leave the network if Ailes departs, according to media reports.
New management will also have to win over the many Ailes loyalists left in the ranks. “Roger Ailes is the best boss I have ever had. I admire him professionally,” Fox News anchor Chris Wallace said in an e-mail. “And I love him personally. I am heartbroken he is gone.”