Lachlan Wins Murdoch Succession War as Siblings Take Major Buyouts, Legal Battle Settles

In a stunning development straight out of the HBO series Succession, the Murdoch family has settled its long-simmering dispute over the family trust, a settlement that will see Lachlan Murdoch walk away with the keys to the kingdom.

The family announced the settlement Monday afternoon, adding that Lachlan’s siblings, Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch and James Murdoch, will each become beneficiaries of new trusts funded in part by the sale of 14.2 million shares of News Corp Class B common stock and approximately 16.9 million shares of Fox Corporation Class B common stock, that were previously held by the Murdoch family trust.

According to prospectuses filed by both News Corp. and Fox Corp., the sale will net each of the three siblings just shy of a half billion dollars each, though the New York Times pegs the total value of the settlement at about $1.1 billion each, including loans and other complexifiers.

They will also be required to sell any de minimis personal holdings in the two companies and “be subject to a long-term standstill agreement preventing them, and their affiliates, from acquiring shares of Fox and News Corporation and taking certain other actions with respect to the companies.”

The sale will dilute the Murdoch families votes in both Fox and News Corp. to approximately 33.1 percent of News Corp’s Class B common stock and less than 0.1 percent of News Corp’s Class A common stock and approximately 36.2 percent of Fox Corporation’s Class B common stock and less than 0.1 percent of Fox Corporation’s Class A common stock.

New trusts will be formed for Lachlan Murdoch, Grace Murdoch and Chloe Murdoch, with Lachlan controlling the votes. Rupert Murdoch will continue in his role as Chairman Emeritus of the Company.

“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. Fox released an essentially identical statement.

The settlement ends an extended family battle, which took place largely behind closed doors in Nevada, and Lachlan and the family patriarch, Rupert Murdoch, sought to secure control of the powerful media companies that were effectively owned by the family trust.

Rupert sought to amend the family trust, such that Lachlan could assume control. But his other adult children were not on board with the plan, forcing an effort to change the irrevocable trust to a Nevada courtroom. The Nevada court opted not to allow the alteration of the family trust.

Meanwhile, details of the sibling rivalry and the conflict with Rupert Murdoch spilled into view in a New York Times Magazine story, and in an Atlantic story in which James Murdoch provided extensive participation.