Legal settlement ensures Lachlan Murdoch will take control of sprawling media portfolio after 94-year-old mogul’s death.
Rupert Murdoch’s family has reached a deal to end the years-long succession battle over the mogul’s media empire.
The deal, announced by News Corp on Monday, will see eldest son Lachlan Murdoch take control of a sprawling media portfolio that includes Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, and The Times.
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The agreement helps ensure that Murdoch’s media properties will retain their conservative bent long after the 94-year-old patriarch’s death.
Under the settlement, Lachlan, who is widely viewed as more aligned with his father’s conservative views than his siblings, and his two younger sisters, Grace and Chloe, will be beneficiaries of a new family trust that has a controlling stake in Fox Corporation and News Corp.
The deal stipulates that the trust will be in place until 2050.
Voting rights will rest “solely” with Lachlan, 54, who has served as chairman of News Corp and CEO of Fox since his father stepped down from the day-to-day running of the businesses in 2023.
Lachlan’s three oldest siblings, James, Elizabeth and Prudence, will relinquish their stakes in an existing family trust, receiving an equal split of the equity sales.
Under the deal, the three elder siblings will be subject to a “long-term standstill agreement” barring them from acquiring shares of News Corp and Fox Corporation and “taking certain other actions with respect to the companies”.
US media estimated the payout for the three siblings at about $3.3bn.
“News Corp’s board of directors welcomes these developments and believes tha