(Telecompaper) James Murdoch will become CEO of 21st Century Fox and Lachlan Murdoch its co-chairman, with Chase Carey, the company's most senior non-family executive, giving up up his operational responsibilities, the Financial Times reported. Rupert Murdoch, the father of the future executives, will continue to be executive chairman and remain the most senior figure at the company, according to people familiar with the matter. Carey will step down as chief operating officer but stay on as an adviser. His contract expires next summer but he has an option to leave in December. The moves are part of a long-term succession plan at Fox, whose assets include Fox News, the Fox broadcast network and the Hollywood movie studio. The changes slowly reduce the role of the octogenarian Murdoch. Lachlan Murdoch will eventually take on his father's current responsibilities at Fox while James Murdoch assumes Carey's operational focus, sources said. An upcoming board meeting will vote on the changes.