In April 2012, he was forced to resign as chairman of BSkyB in the wake of the ongoing phone hacking scandal, in which he was implicated and severely criticised in a parliamentary report.

In 2021, Murdoch set up the Indian arm of his family office, Lupa Systems India, as a joint venture with businessman Uday Shankar.

As of September 2024[update], the whole Murdoch family is involved in a court case in the US in which James, his sister Elisabeth and half-sister Prudence are challenging their father's bid to amend the family trust to ensure that his eldest son, Lachlan, retains control of News Corp and Fox Corp, rather than benefiting all of his six children, as is specified in the "irrevocable" terms of the trust.

He took charge of News Corporation's internet operations, where he invested in a series of ventures, including financial website TheStreet and the short-lived online music site Whammo, with mixed results.

[8] In May 2000, Murdoch was appointed chairman and chief executive of News Corporation's ailing Asian satellite service Star Television, which at the time was losing £100 million a year, and he moved to Hong Kong.

[6] Following the surprise resignation of his brother Lachlan Murdoch from his executive positions at News Corporation in July 2005, James was viewed as his father's heir-apparent.

[10] In December 2007, Murdoch stepped down as CEO from BSkyB and was appointed non-executive chairman of the company (a position formerly held by his father, Rupert).

[13] In August 2009, Murdoch delivered the MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, in which he attacked the BBC and UK media regulator Ofcom calling the BBC's expansion "chilling" and also said: "In this all-media marketplace, the expansion of state-sponsored journalism is a threat to the plurality and independence of news provision, which are so important for our democracy.

"[10][14] The BBC chairman, Sir Michael Lyons officially responded, "We have to be careful not to reduce the whole of broadcasting to some simple economic transactions.

The BBC's public purposes stress the importance of the well-tested principles of educating and informing, and an impartial contribution to debate in the UK.

[5] In 2021, Murdoch set up the Indian arm of his family office, Lupa Systems India, as a joint venture with businessman Uday Shankar.

In May 2022, Lupa India (renamed to Bodhi Tree Systems) announced a $600 million investment in the test-prep company Allen Career Institute Private Limited for a 36% stake, and completed the deal in July.

[33] On 7 July 2011, James Murdoch announced the closure of the British tabloid newspaper the News of the World in the wake of a phone hacking scandal.

[35] This statement was challenged by the formal legal manager and editor for the newspaper, who claimed they had informed James of the "Transcript for Neville" email, a potential "smoking gun" indicating several of the newspaper's journalists may have been involved, during the settlement negotiations with Gorden Taylor in 2008 and alerted him to the potential liability if this document became public.

[citation needed] In May 2012, a highly critical UK Parliamentary report said that Murdoch "showed wilful ignorance of the extent of phone-hacking" and found him "guilty of an astonishing lack of curiosity" over the issue.

[44] In September 2012, Murdoch was criticised by the British Office of Communications (Ofcom), which concluded that he "repeatedly fell short of the conduct to be expected of as a chief executive and chairman" and that his lack of action in relation to phone hacking was "difficult to comprehend and ill-judged".

[45] In September 2024, the whole Murdoch family is involved in a court case in Reno, Nevada, in which James, his sister Elisabeth and half-sister Prudence MacLeod are challenging their father's bid to amend the family trust to ensure that his eldest son, Lachlan, retains control of News Corp and Fox Corp, rather than benefiting all of his six children, as is specified in the "irrevocable" terms of the trust.

[47] Chloe and Grace Murdoch, Rupert's children with third wife Wendi Deng, will have no say in the business,[48] although will share the stock proceeds.

[4] Since 2014, James and Kathryn have run the Quadrivium Foundation,[55][56] which supports "initiatives that address the root causes of problems and where single actions can create multiple positive outcomes".

It is focused on five key areas: democracy, technology and society, scientific understanding, climate change, and the health of the world's oceans.