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The Murdoch family, in the throes of reshaping its media empire, is bringing on a lieutenant with experience in chaotic environments: President Trump’s former communications director, Hope Hicks.
Starting next year, Ms. Hicks, one of the most recognizable alumni of Mr. Trump’s White House, will become the chief communications officer of Fox, the company to be spun out of the Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of most of 21st Century Fox.
She plans to move to Los Angeles in connection with her new job. A native of Greenwich, Conn., she had been living in Manhattan since leaving the White House earlier this year.
Ms. Hicks, 29, was an obscure public relations aide with zero political experience when Mr. Trump plucked her from his family’s corporation in 2015 to serve as press secretary for his nascent presidential bid. What followed was a remarkable ascent, as Ms. Hicks weathered staff shake-ups and a knives-out office environment to become the closest aide to the most powerful man in the world.
In her new role, Ms. Hicks will work closely with Lachlan Murdoch, the eldest son of the mogul Rupert Murdoch. Lachlan Murdoch is set to become chairman and chief executive of the reconstituted Fox corporation, which will include Fox News, Fox Sports and the broadcast network.
Ms. Hicks will serve at the executive level, but her new employer’s major asset is Fox News, the cable network with close ties to the Trump administration. The channel’s prime time stars are relentless boosters of Mr. Trump; its former co-president, Bill Shine, now serves as Mr. Trump’s deputy chief of staff for communications.
In addition to her A-list contacts, Ms. Hicks has a track record of working well with heirs to dynastic families — a desirable trait for the Murdoch clan, whose financial and personal lives play out in the public eye.
Mocked by critics as a helpmeet, Ms. Hicks was seen by many journalists as a key point of contact in the West Wing, able to channel the thinking of her tempestuous boss and single-handedly wrangle time for interviews with Mr. Trump in the Oval Office.
Her appointment comes at a moment of transition for the Fox empire.
In a $71.3 billion deal expected to be completed next year, the Walt Disney Company is set to acquire the bulk of the Murdochs’ entertainment and media assets, substantially altering the Hollywood landscape. For Rupert Murdoch and his children, the deal represents a significant downsizing — and a shift in focus to news and sports.
In dealing with the press, the Murdochs have long relied on the guidance of Julie Henderson, the chief communications officer of 21st Century Fox, along with informal advisers like the New York public-relations guru Steven Rubenstein.
Ms. Hicks’s White House tenure was not without controversy. Her role in crafting a statement by Donald J. Trump Jr., about a 2016 meeting with Russian officials at Trump Tower, attracted attention from federal investigators, and she testified for eight hours before the House Intelligence Committee shortly before leaving the West Wing.