The ‘Succession’ Drama Over the Murdoch Family Trust Ends

The real-life “Succession” drama that has consumed one of the world’s richest and most famous families has reached its finale.

The dispute over the Murdoch Family Trust — which controls media companies like Fox News, The New York Post, and The Wall Street Journal — has been resolved, the family’s holding companies, News Corp and Fox, announced Monday.

The settlement sees three of Rupert Murdoch’s children part with their stakes in the family business for cash compensation of about $1.1 billion each, a person familiar with the matter said. That values the total payout at about $3.3 billion.

Murdoch’s eldest son, 54-year-old Lachlan Murdoch — favored in part because of his commitment to conservative politics — will control the brands moving forward via a new trust. Lachlan has already been effectively running the empire as the executive chairman and CEO of Fox and chairman of News Corp.

The settlement follows a legal battle in Nevada, which pitted 94-year-old patriarch Rupert and Lachlan against three of Rupert’s other children: James and Elisabeth Murdoch, and Prudence MacLeod.

Rupert and Lachlan had previously tried to dismantle a decades-old agreement that gave each of the four siblings equal voting control over their father’s companies when he died. The father-son duo was concerned that the three more liberal siblings could band together and outvote Lachlan after Rupert passed away, endangering the success of the company’s conservative media properties.

Under the new agreement, which extends until 2050, James, Elisabeth, and Prudence will no longer have a stake in the companies that their father built. They will each receive cash compensation for their shares and are barred from purchasing stock in either entity.

Lachlan, as well as Rupert’s youngest children, Grace and Chloe, will retain their ownership stakes, though Lachlan will be the only Murdoch heir with voting power.

Sibling power games

The Murdoch family is worth $24.4 billion, according to Forbes, and even before the proposed change to the trust, its tumultuous dynamic has long been a subject of intrigue.

In a very valuable game of sibling rivalry, James, who is 52, and Lachlan — and sometimes 57-year-old Elisabeth — competed over who would inherit control of the family dynasty. (Prudence, who is Rupert’s daughter through his first marriage, didn’t play a major part in the power games.)

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It long seemed that James was in pole position. He put in his time at his father’s companies, working his way up to COO of News Corp and CEO of 21st Century Fox.

But in 2014, Lachlan returned to the fold after nearly a decade away. He had said he wanted time in Australia, but many pointed to disagreements with then-Fox News CEO Roger Ailes. It was a blow to James, who had to share his power.

By 2019, it had become clear that Lachlan was the heir-apparent when Rupert tapped him to lead the new Fox after 21st Century Fox’s sale to Disney. James left Fox, and the next year, he left News Corp too, referencing his “disagreements over certain editorial content.”

Since then, James has become more forthright with criticisms of his father. He implied that Fox News was partly responsible for the January 6 riots. Earlier this year, he called his father a misogynist in an interview with The Atlantic.

All the while, Rupert’s daughter Elisabeth maintained a lower profile than her brothers, though there were moments it seemed she could make a move for a leadership position. She worked stints at her father’s various businesses and sold her production company to him in 2011, but the following year, she said she wasn’t interested in leading the company. She has since founded the production company Sister, best known for making HBO’s “Chernobyl.”

Since Lachlan’s return, he has remained loyal to Rupert, keeping his eye on the prize.

When Business Insider asked him in 2021 about his endgame, he maintained that he already had his dream job.

“It’s one I look forward to for decades and decades into the future,” he said at the time.