Murdoch Settlement: $3.3 Billion Deal Gives Lachlan Control

The Murdoch family settlement is a $3.3 billion deal, finalized in early September 2025, that ended the legal fight over Rupert Murdoch’s media empire and left Lachlan Murdoch in sole control of Fox Corporation and News Corp. Under the agreement, three of Rupert’s older children — Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch, and James Murdoch — each received roughly $1.1 billion in exchange for surrendering every interest they held in the family’s media companies.¹ The original family trust was dissolved, and a new trust structure was put in place to keep Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post under Lachlan’s leadership through 2050.²

Why the Family Ended Up in Court

Rupert Murdoch set up the family trust in 1999 as part of his divorce from Anna Torv. He held four voting shares; his four eldest children each held one. When he died, his four votes were to be divided equally among Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan, and James, giving all four siblings the same say over Fox Corporation and News Corp. His two youngest children, Grace and Chloe, were financial beneficiaries only, with no voting rights.³

That equal-vote structure worried Rupert as his children drifted apart politically. James had publicly criticized Fox News over its coverage of the January 2021 Capitol siege, its support for former President Trump, and its position on climate change. Lachlan was seen as the sibling most aligned with his father’s conservative outlook.⁴ Rupert feared that a coalition of his other children could outvote Lachlan and reshape Fox News after his death.

In mid-2023, Rupert and Lachlan launched an effort, internally called “Project Harmony,” to amend the irrevocable trust and give Lachlan sole decision-making power over the media companies. Their legal team argued the change was permitted under a narrow trust provision allowing modifications made in good faith and for the sole benefit of all beneficiaries.⁵⁶ Prudence, Elisabeth, and James challenged the plan in Nevada probate court.

On December 7, 2024, Probate Commissioner Edmund J. Gorman Jr. rejected Rupert’s bid in a 96-page ruling, finding that Rupert and Lachlan had acted in “bad faith” and calling the plan a “carefully crafted charade” to “permanently cement Lachlan Murdoch’s executive roles.”⁷ Rupert’s lawyer announced plans to appeal. But the ruling also pointed to another route: Rupert and Lachlan could still buy the dissenting siblings out.⁸ That is what happened next.

How the $3.3 Billion Was Structured

Each of the three departing siblings received about $1.1 billion, roughly 80 percent of the market value of their shares at the close on September 5, 2025.¹

The money came from two places. The departing siblings’ trusts sold shares on the public market: roughly 16.8 million Fox Corporation Class B shares at $54.25 per share, raising about $913 million, along with 14.2 million News Corp Class B shares. Morgan Stanley underwrote the Fox offering. To cover the rest, a new holding company called LGC Holdco took out $1 billion in term loans, pledging its Fox and News Corp shares as collateral.⁹¹⁰

What Prudence, Elisabeth, and James Gave Up

The three were designated “departing beneficiaries” and now hold no interest in any trust connected to Fox or News Corp. They were given six months to sell off any small personal holdings in either company.²

They also agreed to a twelve-year standstill barring them and their affiliates from buying shares in Fox or News Corp or taking other specified actions concerning the companies. Reporting suggests the standstill likely also prevents them from investing in competitors or publicly disparaging the companies.¹¹

The New Trust and Lachlan’s Control

The 1999 Murdoch Family Trust was dissolved. In its place, new “Remaining Beneficiary Trusts” were created for Lachlan, Grace, and Chloe. Those trusts collectively own LGC Holdco, which holds about 36.2% of Fox Corporation’s Class B voting stock and 33.1% of News Corp’s Class B voting stock. The trusts run until 2050, and for that entire period the voting rights over those shares sit with Lachlan alone, exercised through his appointed managing director.² A new stockholders agreement caps the family’s entities at no more than 44% of Fox’s outstanding Class B voting power.⁹

Rupert Murdoch, 94, now holds the title of chairman emeritus at both Fox and News Corp, a role without direct voting control. Lachlan serves as executive chair and CEO of Fox Corporation and chair of News Corp.¹²¹³

What It Means for Fox News

By buying out the siblings who disagreed with Fox News’s direction, the settlement did what the Nevada court blocked Rupert from doing through a trust amendment. Analyst Andrew Neil described Lachlan as a “chip off the old block” who could now run the operation “without fear of interference from his siblings.” James, Elisabeth, and Prudence, whom the BBC described as having a “small ‘l’ liberal bent,” had objected to Fox and News Corp’s editorial choices around U.S. election coverage and climate change.¹⁴ With their exit, no internal family counterweight to Lachlan’s editorial preferences remains.

What It Means for the Companies

The family’s voting stake shrank. The trust had controlled roughly 44% of Fox’s voting shares and 41% of News Corp’s before the deal; those figures dropped to about 36% and 33%.¹⁵ LGC Holdco also agreed to a twelve-month lock-up preventing further Class B share sales.⁹

Markets shrugged. On the first trading day after the announcement, Fox slipped about 2.6% and News Corp was essentially flat, with both stocks near all-time highs going in. The share sales that funded the deal went out at roughly a 4.5% discount to market.¹⁶

Analysts at MoffettNathanson said the resolution could revive the idea of re-merging Fox and News Corp, which Rupert had tried in 2022–2023 before shareholders blocked it partly over the succession question. With that question answered, the objection is gone. Analysts also flagged the settlement as clearing the way for Fox to pursue sports and cable acquisitions and for News Corp to consider mergers or divestitures of its own.¹⁷

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University of Virginia School of Law. Professor Explains Legal Background Behind Murdoch Trust Dispute
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Nevada Current. The Future of Rupert Murdoch’s Media Empire Could Hinge on a Legal Effort in Nevada
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The New York Times. Rupert Lachlan Murdoch Family Trust
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Forbes. Lachlan Murdoch’s Control of Fox and News Corp Sets the Stage for M&A