Fox News founder Roger Ailes found dead at 77 – UPDATE
Fox News founder and former CEO Roger Ailes has died aged 77, according to US media reports.
UPDATE: Neither his wife nor Fox released any details on the circumstances of Ailes’ death. He suffered from haemophilia, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Gabriel Sherman, a reporter who wrote a biography of Ailes, said on Twitter that Ailes died after suffering a blood clot after falling in Palm Beach, Florida, citing two family friends. Reuters could not immediately confirm Sherman’s report.
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The network shared a statement from Ailes’s wife Elizabeth Ailes announcing the death. The statement was first obtained by conservative website The Drudge Report.
“I am profoundly sad and heartbroken to report that my husband, Roger Ailes, passed away this morning,” the statement said.
“During a career that stretched over more than five decades, his work in entertainment, in politics, and in news affected the lives of many millions. And so even as we mourn his death, we celebrate his life.”
Ailes resigned as the head of Fox News in July 2016 after 20 years leading the network, amid sexual harassment allegations.
Ailes resigned from Fox last July following allegations of sexual harassment, marking an abrupt end to his 20-year reign over America’s most lucrative and powerful cable news channel for conservatives.
Fox News is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. Ailes received a severance package of about $40 million when he left Fox News, according to a source familiar with the situation, and went on to serve as an informal adviser to Murdoch.
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