A years-long succession battle within Rupert Murdoch's conservative media empire has drawn to a close, with his son Lachlan set to control the news group.
The deal, which the family announced on Monday, will ensure the ongoing conservative leaning of Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Post after 94-year-old Rupert's death.
Under the agreement, Lachlan will control a new trust while siblings Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch, and James Murdoch will cease being beneficiaries of any trust with shares in Fox or News Corp.
This conclusion arrives after years of tension between the media mogul and three of his children over the future of the family-owned newspapers and television networks.
The Murdoch family's internal turmoil served as inspiration for the hit television drama Succession. The deal announced on Monday ends all litigation over the family's trust.
Lachlan's more politically moderate oldest siblings are poised to sell their holdings in Fox and News Corp in the coming months and will be named beneficiaries of a new trust receiving cash from the sale of approximately 14.2 million shares of News Corp and 16.9 million shares of Fox Corp.
The sale of their shares will add to their existing inheritance but prevent them from having any influence over the political bent of the family’s media conglomerate.
James has distanced himself from the family business over disagreements regarding editorial content.
Lachlan, seen as the most politically conservative of Rupert’s oldest children, has been chairing News Corp since Rupert stepped back in September 2023, while Rupert remains chairman emeritus of both Fox Corporation and News Corp.
The legal dispute played out largely behind closed doors in Nevada, a state known for its privacy in family trust matters, following Rupert's controversial attempt to amend the terms of the family's trust to position Lachlan as the sole inheritor of the empire.
With Monday’s deal described as a mutual resolution of the legal proceedings, Rupert Murdoch's legacy seems set to continue under his son, though with the evident fractures within the family.
