Media mogul, 86, said to have told executives at 21st Century Fox and News Corp he will work from home for a month

Rupert Murdoch reportedly suffered a back injury in a recent sailing accident, according to an internal note from the media mogul, which was provided to the Associated Press.



The 86-year-old sent the note last week to senior executives at his companies, 21st Century Fox and News Corp, saying he would be working from home for weeks because of the injury, according to a person with knowledge of the email who was not authorized to share the note.

Murdoch, 86, was reportedly in the Caribbean on his son Lachlan’s yacht around the beginning of the year when the injury occurred, and taken from the boat to a hospital by helicopter.

The News Corp billionaire’s injury was first reported in Vanity Fair, which described an email from Murdoch sent to senior executives at the company.

“I hope you all are having a great start to 2018. I suspect it has been better than mine,” he wrote, according to the magazine’s source.

“I am writing to tell you that last week I had a sailing accident and suffered a painful back injury. While I am well on the road to recovery, I have to work from home for some weeks. In the meantime, you’ll be hearing from me by email, phone and text!”

Murdoch’s media empire is currently in transition, with holdings spinning off to new owners and control restructured around his sons. In a $53bn deal last month, Murdoch sold the majority of his 21st Century Fox holdings, including film and TV studios and lucrative Hollywood franchises. As part of the deal the Murdoch family acquired a 4.25% stake in Disney. Lachlan Murdoch, 46, is widely seen as the successor to his father’s newspaper and Fox News properties.