Murdoch Empire Secured: Inside the Deal That Ends Family Feud
The Murdoch family's dramatic succession battle, which has captivated media observers and drawn comparisons to HBO's hit series Succession, has reached a monumental resolution. In a landmark $3.3 billion agreement announced September 8, 2025, Lachlan Murdoch has secured control over one of the world's most influential media empires, ensuring its conservative orientation will continue for decades to come.
This settlement not only concludes years of internal family strife but also signals profound implications for the global media landscape and the future of conservative journalism.
The agreement: Terms and transaction
The meticulously negotiated deal establishes a new family trust with Lachlan Murdoch at its helm, effectively replacing the previous irrevocable trust that would have distributed voting power equally among Rupert's four eldest children. Under the arrangement, Lachlan's siblings—Prudence, Elisabeth, and James—will receive approximately $1.1 billion each in exchange for relinquishing their stakes in the family businesses. The massive payout, funded through stock sales totaling approximately $1.37 billion, represents roughly 80% of the value of their shares at market close on September 5th.
The new trust will include Lachlan and his two younger sisters, Grace and Chloe Murdoch (from Rupert's marriage to Wendi Deng), though voting control will rest "solely with Lachlan." This structure will maintain approximately 36% of Fox's Class B common stock and 33% of News Corp's Class B shares under family control, though this represents a dilution from the previous roughly 40% stake. The agreement includes a standstill provision preventing the three older siblings from acquiring shares in either company in the future.
Ensuring the conservative lean continues
The settlement is explicitly designed to preserve what Rupert Murdoch has long described as "the protector of the conservative voice in the English-speaking world." This institutional safeguarding of a right-leaning ideology represents the agreement's most significant outcome. Lachlan, widely viewed as more ideologically aligned with his father than his siblings, is now positioned to maintain the established editorial course for decades.
The new trust agreement is structured to remain in effect until 2050, providing exceptional stability and ensuring the companies' conservative orientation is legally protected from internal challenges. This continuity in leadership and vision means outlets like Fox News and the editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal are expected to maintain their influential role in conservative media without a perceptible shift in tone or bias.
Family dynamics: Fractured but financially settled
The settlement concludes a particularly acrimonious chapter in the Murdoch family saga, one that saw private disputes erupt into public litigation. The conflict reached its nadir when Rupert and Lachlan attempted to unilaterally change the terms of the family trust. That effort was rejected by a Nevada probate court in December 2024, describing it as a "carefully crafted charade" designed to "permanently cement Lachlan Murdoch's executive roles."
The ideological divisions within the family have been particularly pronounced. James Murdoch emerged as a vocal critic of the direction of Fox News and other Murdoch properties, specifically citing their coverage of the January 2021 Capitol siege, support for former President Donald Trump, and dismissal of climate change concerns. In a rare interview, James went so far as to describe his father as a "misogynist" and Fox News as a "menace" to US democracy. These tensions reportedly became so severe that James and Rupert "almost never speak."
Elisabeth and Prudence also felt betrayed by Rupert and Lachlan's decision to sue them "without warning" in the Nevada probate court. Despite the financial resolution, the settlement creates what one report described as a "brittle peace" within the family.
Parallels to Succession: Art imitates life
The Murdoch family’s internal struggle has drawn inevitable and striking comparisons to HBO’s Succession, which itself was inspired by media dynasties like theirs. The parallels are undeniable: a powerful, aging patriarch (Rupert Murdoch/Logan Roy) who pits his children against one another for control of his empire, resulting in deep-seated sibling rivalry.
The ideological conflict between the more conservative Lachlan and the more liberal James Murdoch mirrors the dynamic between the Roy siblings and their father's conservative enterprise. Furthermore, Fox News's role as an immensely profitable and politically powerful network closely resembles that of ATN in the fictional series.
However, reality has diverged from fiction in key aspects; unlike Logan Roy's abrupt demise, Rupert Murdoch has orchestrated his succession on his own terms, and the family's saga has, so far, concluded with a multi-billion-dollar financial settlement rather than a dramatic corporate takeover.
Implications for the media landscape
The consolidation of Murdoch media properties under Lachlan's leadership has profound implications for both the companies themselves and the broader media ecosystem:
- Stability vs. stagnation: While the agreement provides leadership stability, it may also inhibit adaptation to changing media consumption patterns and evolving audience demographics
- Continued polarization: Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and other properties' maintenance of conservative editorial stances suggests that these outlets will continue to play a contentious role in political discourse
- Industry influence: The Murdoch companies control not only news outlets but also book publishing (HarperCollins) and emerging media (streaming service Tubi), giving them substantial cultural influence beyond news
Unanswered questions
While the settlement clarifies leadership, it raises several questions about the future:
- Editorial independence: Will Lachlan grant newsrooms like The Wall Street Journal genuine editorial independence, or will their coverage align more closely with Fox News's conservative commentary?
- Adaptation challenges: Can Lachlan successfully navigate the digital transformation of media while maintaining the profitability of traditional properties?
- Family reconciliation: Is financial settlement sufficient to heal familial divisions, or will tensions continue to manifest in public ways?
- Audience evolution: As media consumption habits change, can the Murdoch properties maintain their influence with younger, more diverse audiences without moderating their conservative stance?
So, is this a legacy secured?
The Murdoch succession settlement ultimately achieves Rupert Murdoch's longstanding goal: preserving his media empire as a bulwark of conservative journalism for the foreseeable future. While the resolution comes at tremendous financial cost and familial discord, it provides unusual clarity about leadership and direction for the company's employees, audiences, and shareholders.
The agreement represents both an endpoint and a beginning, concluding years of uncertainty while inaugurating Lachlan Murdoch's unquestioned authority over a media landscape that continues to shape political discourse across the English-speaking world. As with the fictional Roy family, the Murdoch saga demonstrates that enormous wealth and influence often come at the price of familial harmony, leaving behind a legacy as complicated as it is powerful.