The day earlier, the company offered no comment on a report in the trade publication The Hollywood Reporter that Mr. Lewis had been fired weeks ago for what it called “financial issues and other performance problems.” Mr. Lewis was escorted out of the News Corporation headquarters in Manhattan, the report said.
No other details were given, and several executives reached on Tuesday who have worked with the two men said they had no details on what sort of financial issues might have been behind the decision.
A spokesman for News Corporation initially said the company would decline to give an official comment, but at least one executive with knowledge of the situation declined to challenge any of the details in the Hollywood Reporter article. Other executives who spoke with those involved in the decision said Mr. Ailes was still working on a settlement with Mr. Lewis.
Mr. Lewis did not respond to phone messages. In its statement Fox News said it had acted “after an extensive internal investigation of Brian Lewis’ conduct.”
The news stunned many in the world of cable news, where Mr. Lewis, an executive vice president who ran the aggressive communications and public relations arm of Fox News, was long thought to be an indispensable adviser to Mr. Ailes. But one senior executive who worked closely with both men for a number of years said that their relationship had soured badly within the last year or so.
“This has been coming for a long time,” said the senior executive, who asked not to be identified because of professional relationships with both men. “They have not been close for a long time. I have known this was coming.”
The executive said that Mr. Lewis, who for most of the existence of Fox News occupied an office just down the hall from Mr. Ailes, had within the last year been moved to another floor. “It had gotten really nasty and acrimonious between the two of them,” the executive said.
