Rupert Murdoch is 92 years old. He has more money than he can spend for the rest of his life no matter what happens to Fox. His future is not in this world. His children are operating the company day to day and will have full control the day he assumes room temperature. His mental acuity for decision making may have declined or he may simply be exercising and enjoying a multibillionaire’s ability to make a decision that shows the world he is boss and can make decisions that wast billions of dollars without any concern. Not unlike Elon Musk paying $40 billion for Twitter which was worth a fraction of what he paid.
This may simply have been Rupert deciding an employee was getting too big for his britches and he decided to make an example to his employees that no one was more important than the man at the top.
His legacy is certainly on the line. And, steep decline in both ratings and value of Fox News will stain it.