Lachlan Murdoch, the Media Prince Who Would Be King

THE NEW YORK TIMES: A new deal gives him control of his family’s media empire, including Fox News, for probably decades to come.

The question of succession has hung over Lachlan Murdoch his entire life. It has finally, definitively been answered.

The family’s empire, built over more than 70 years by his father, Rupert, is his to control for probably decades to come. Thanks to a $3.3 billion deal he reached with his three oldest siblings, Mr. Murdoch will be able to oversee the family’s media business until at least 2050.

The agreement immediately cements Mr. Murdoch, 54, as one of the world’s most powerful men. And it means that his companies — which own Fox News, The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal, among other properties — are likely to maintain their firm conservative tilt. Keeping that ideological bent has been a top priority for his father, who has preferred his elder son as his permanent successor over the three less politically conservative siblings.

Now the global Murdoch kingdom will fall under the control of an intensely private former philosophy student, a New Yorker turned proud Australian who transplanted his family to Sydney, and a digital enthusiast who has pushed his father’s analog media business into the realms of podcasts and streaming platforms. » | Katie Robertson and Michael M. Grynbaum | Tuesday, September 9, 2025

How Lachlan Murdoch Became the New Head of Fox and News Corp

THE GUARDIAN: Rupert Murdoch’s passing the crown to Lachlan comes as Fox News faces a difficult balancing act in the run-up to the 2024 election

Lachlan Murdoch, 52, spent a decade away from the Fox and News Corp empire, before returning in 2014. Photograph: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Rupert Murdoch’s decision to hand the keys of his global media empire, including the role of chairman of both Fox Corp and News Corp, to his eldestson Lachlan brings to an end to years of speculation over his desired plan for succession.

Lachlan Murdoch, 52, now gains sole control of a media group that has reshaped the media landscape across continents and radically altered politics in the US. The move is the fulfillment of a promise first indicated in 2019, when the elder Murdoch named Lachlan as heir to his business.

“This is Lachlan’s best chance to prove to investors and his family that he is the best option for the future,” said David Folkenflik, NPR’s media correspondent and author of Murdoch’s World: The Last of the Old Media Empires. But he warned that it remained uncertain whether the successor could hold the empire together. » | Ed Pilkington and Dominic Rushe | Thursday, September 21, 2023