TIMELINE-Rupert Murdoch's 70-year career from Australia to global media mogul

Sept 21 (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch has stepped down as the chairman of Fox and News Corp, ending a seven-decade career that began from his father's Australian newspaper business and culminated in one of the most influential media empires. With deals for companies like Dow Jones, Sky and 21st Century Fox, Murdoch built a media behemoth that controlled large swaths of news, publishing and film industries. Here's a timeline of key milestones through Murdoch's career: YEAR EVENT 1952 Murdoch inherits his father's Australian newspaper "The News" at the age of 21. In 1953, he becomes its editor and publisher and joins the board of News Ltd. 1969 He acquires News of the World and turns it into the most widely read English-language weekly in the world, eventually amassing scores of newspapers and magazines. 1973 Enters the U.S. market with the purchase of San Antonio Express and the San Antonio News. 1976 Acquires New York Post for $30 million. 1981 His company News International buys the Times and Sunday Times 1985 Buys 50% of 21st Century Fox 1986 News Corporation acquires Metromedia, which included six television stations that would lay the foundation for Fox network. 1987 Buys U.S. publisher Harper & Row 1989 Forms publisher HarperCollins through merger of the two companies. Launches Sky Television in the UK 1996 Launches Fox News 1998 Fox Entertainment Group went public 2004 Murdoch enacts an emergency poison pill provision after Liberty Media Chairman John Malone quietly snaps up close to 20% of News Corp voting shares. 2007 Acquires the Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones for $5.6 billion. 2011 Shuts the weekly British tabloid, News of the World, after a far-reaching phone hacking scandal that rocked his empire, the Murdoch family and the British establishment. 2013 Splits News Corporation assets into News Corp and 21st Century Fox Dec, 2017 Disney strikes a deal to buy film, television and international businesses from Twenty-First Century Fox for $52.4 billion in stock May, 2018 Lachlan Murdoch replaces brother James as Fox CEO after Disney deal. Sept, 2018 21st Century Fox agrees to sell its 39% stake in Sky to Comcast, completing the U.S. cable group's takeover and ending Murdoch's ties with the UK-based satellite broadcaster. March, Walt Disney closes its $71 billion 2019 acquisition of Twenty-First Century Fox's film and television assets. Feb, 2021 Electronic voting systems maker Smartmatic sues Fox News and Rudolph Giuliani, a lawyer for former President Donald Trump, claiming they falsely accused the company of helping to rig the U.S. presidential election in favor of Joe Biden. March, Dominion Voting Systems Corp files a $1.6 billion 2021 defamation lawsuit against Fox News, accusing it of trying to boost its ratings by falsely claiming the company rigged the 2020 U.S. presidential election against Donald Trump. Oct, 2022 Murdoch starts a process to reunite his media empire, News Corp and Fox Corp , saying they would consider combining at his behest, nearly a decade after the companies split. Jan, 2023 Murdoch scraps proposal to reunite News Corp and Fox Corp as the company was also exploring a sale of Move Inc. April, Fox settles a defamation lawsuit by Dominion 2023 Voting Systems for $787.5 million, over US election lies. A week later Fox News Media and top-rated host Tucker Carlson agree to part ways. September, Murdoch steps down as chairman of Fox and News 2023 Corp, cementing his son Lachlan's role as the leader of the media empire. Lachlan will be the chairman of News Corp and continue as the chair and CEO of Fox. (Reporting by Chavi Mehta and Samrhitha Arunasalam in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Zaheer Kachwala; Editing by Arun Koyyur)