Robert Thomson (executive)

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Robert James Dell’Oro Thomson (born 11 March 1961) is an Australian journalist and business executive. He has been the chief executive of News Corp since 2013.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Early life

Thomson was born in Torrumbarry, Victoria, and studied at Christian Brothers College in St Kilda East, and at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.<ref name="Auletta">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=smh>Template:Cite news</ref>

Career

Thomson started work as a copyboy at The Herald (now the Herald Sun) in Melbourne in 1979.<ref name=hoc>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1983, he became senior feature writer for The Sydney Morning Herald, and two years later became Beijing correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald as well as the Financial Times.<ref name=smh/> Thomson then became a Tokyo correspondent for the Financial Times in 1989.<ref name="milmo">Template:Cite news</ref> Thomson was appointed the Financial Times foreign news editor in 1994<ref name=Auletta/> and in 1996 became editor of the Financial Times weekend edition.<ref name=smh/> While at Sydney Morning Herald, Thomson wrote a series on Australian judges, which was published as a book in 1987, The Judges: A Portrait of an Australian Judiciary.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1998, Thomson became U.S. managing editor of the Financial Times.<ref name=hoc/>

In 2007, Thomson was one of the first media executives to criticise Google and big tech for the disaggregation of content and publication of falsehoods, and to pressure them for a higher share of advertising value.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He has been known to use alliterative expressions to call out those companies, such as platforms for "the fake, the faux and the fallacious", and "tech tapeworms."<ref name=":0" /><ref>UK Parliament Select Committee on Communications Minutes of Evidence, "Examination of Witnesses (Questions 254 - 259)" (18 July 2007). Retrieved 18 October 2022.</ref> Thomson called for new terms of trade for tech platforms to allow viable business models for creators and to benefit broader society.<ref>"Day of 'reckoning' looms for tech titans: News boss". The Australian. Retrieved 18 October 2022.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In May 2008, he was appointed managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, having previously been the editor of The Times.<ref name="clark">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="golum">Template:Cite news</ref>

He received an honorary doctorate from RMIT University in 2010.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In January 2013, Thomson became the chief executive of News Corp.<ref name=":1" />

In 2023, Thomson has decried the unauthorised use of journalistic content by generative AI and the resulting existential risk posed to media companies. Thomson and several other media leaders<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> have called for compensation by tech companies that are developing and employing AI. Speaking in May 2023 at INMA, a media conference, Thomson summed up the industry's outrage, saying "[media's] collective IP is under threat and for which we should argue vociferously for compensation."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He said that AI was "designed so the reader will never visit a journalism website, thus fatally undermining that journalism."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In June 2025, it was reported that News Corp had extended Thomson's contract as its chief executive until June 2030.<ref name=":1" />

Personal life

One of his ancestors was named Arturo Dell'Oro, and came from Domodossola, in northern Italy.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He is married to Wang Ping, the daughter of a general in the Chinese People's Liberation Army.<ref name="NYTMAG">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Private Eye magazine, No. 1189, 20 July - 2 August 2007, p.7</ref>