Rupert Murdoch suffered a serious back injury while vacationing on his son Lachlan’s yacht in the Caribbean earlier this month, three sources familiar with the incident told Vanity Fair. The 86-year-old media mogul was helicoptered off the boat and was, until recently, recovering in a Los Angeles hospital, one of the sources said. The incident is said to have happened shortly after the New Year’s holiday.

Last Friday night, Murdoch sent an email to his senior management informing them of the accident: "I hope you all are having a great start to 2018. I suspect it has been better than mine," he wrote, according to a source who's seen the email. "I am writing to tell you that last week I had a sailing accident and suffered a painful back injury. While I am well on the road to recovery, I have to work from home for some weeks. In the meantime, you’ll be hearing from me by email, phone and text!"

A 21st Century Fox spokesperson declined to comment.

Murdoch’s hospitalization comes at a delicate moment for his media empire 21st Century Fox, as the company plans to sell its film and television assets to Disney in a $52.4 billion deal. (Murdoch is not selling Fox News.) The mogul has suffered health scares before, most notably a prostate-cancer diagnosis in 2000, from which he fully recovered. Murdoch has maintained he intends to live forever. His mother passed away in 2012, just shy of her 104th birthday.

This post has been updated.