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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 that the leadership, vision and management by the Company’s Chair, Lachlan Murdoch, will continue to be important to guiding the Company’s strategy and success,” News Corp said in a statement.
The settlement caps a saga that has captivated political and media circles, and drawn comparisons with the plot of HBO’s award-winning drama Succession.
“Rupert Murdoch has built his reputation on being aggressive in securing what he wants, and he wanted Lachlan Murdoch to control both Fox Corp and News Corp,” Lynne Vincent, an associate professor of management at Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management, told Al Jazeera.
“Not surprisingly, that is what is going to happen. Rupert Murdoch is very effective at getting what he wants.”
Vincent said Lachlan Murdoch’s control of the media portfolio would ensure “business as usual” at the outlets.
“From what we know, Lachlan Murdoch’s views and values are very similar to Rupert Murdoch’s,” she said.
“From an organisational perspective, this provides Fox Corp and News Corp with a sense of stability, which might be appealing to some stakeholders.”
The legal fight over Rupert Murdoch’s succession plans erupted in 2023, when the Australian-born mogul sought to change the structure of the family trust to give full control of his companies to Lachlan after his death.
James, Elizabeth and Prudence, who stood to inherit equal control of the companies along with Lachlan, took their father to court to block the bid.
In December, a probate court in the US state of Nevada ruled against the attempt to change the trust, describing it as a “carefully crafted charade” designed to “permanently cement” Lachlan Murdoch’s control.
