Murdoch family resolves dispute over ownership in billion-dollar deal
Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan have reached an agreement with the patriarch’s three older children that will resolve the bitter legal dispute over who will control the Murdoch media empire after the 94-year-old mogul dies.
Control over the company would have been split among the four siblings upon their father’s death under the trust in place. Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan had sought to amend the trust to ensure that Lachlan, who serves as chief executive of Fox News parent company Fox Corp, would remain in charge of the company. Three of Lachlan’s siblings – Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch and James Murdoch – had vehemently protested, and the messy legal battle has been playing out in a Nevada court.
The parties announced a resolution late Monday afternoon. As part of the deal, Lachlan Murdoch’s three adult siblings “will cease to be beneficiaries in any trust holding shares” in Fox Corp or sibling company News Corp.
The siblings will be compensated in part from the sale of 14.2 million shares of News Corp Class B stock and 16.9 million shares of Fox Corp Class B stock.
The value of the settlement is $3.3 billion, according to a person familiar with the agreement who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential settlement terms. That figure is split equally among Prudence, Elisabeth and James Murdoch, granting each $1.1 billion, this person said. Rupert Murdoch’s younger children, Grace and Chloe, will be part of a new trust.
The trust will run until 2050. Until that time, Lachlan will control the entity, with Rupert Murdoch remaining as chairman emeritus of the company.
Rupert and Lachlan, who are ideologically aligned, had moved to amend the trust that controlled the company out of concern that his siblings could take the company, including crown jewel Fox News, in a different political direction. The settlement forestalls that possibility.
“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,” the company said in a statement.