The Murdoch family has finally landed on a resolution to a messy, multiyear succession fight over control of its sizable media empire.
Under a new blockbuster deal, Lachlan Murdoch, the son of Rupert Murdoch, will retain oversight of outlets including Fox News, The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal, maintaining their conservative bent.
The agreement, valued at roughly $3.3 billion, according to a New York Times report, caps off a bitter round of legal infighting among Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch and his siblings over the future direction of the company.
Last winter, Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch failed to alter an irrevocable trust in a bid to dilute other family members’ stakes in the Murdoch media assets, spurring the father and son to seek a buyout.
Lachlan Murdoch has long been his father’s chosen successor, given his commitment to espousing the same right-wing ideology that has become synonymous with outlets like Fox News.
By some accounts, the current executive chair of Fox Corporation and News Corporation could be even more right-wing than his father and has faced scrutiny for his role in Fox News’s amplification of conspiracy theories like election denialism.
“It’s important to note that Lachlan’s politics are far more conservative than his father,” Hollywood Reporter special correspondent Lachlan Cartwright previously said on the Daily Beast podcast, “The New Abnormal.”
Prior to this recent agreement, siblings Lachlan, Prudence, Elisabeth and James Murdoch were poised to hold equal voting shares of the media empire following their father’s death, raising questions about whether the family’s outlets would continue to boost conservative political positions.
Elisabeth and James Murdoch, in particular, were known for holding more moderate stances than their brother and father, with the latter openly criticizing climate coverage by some of the family’s Australian properties.
The deal reportedly includes a $1.1 billion payout to Prudence, Elisabeth and James Murdoch in exchange for their brother’s ability to cement control of the media empire, which also includes publications in Australia and the United Kingdom.
It’s poised to have major implications for the future of news media, given the influential role that Fox News and other Murdoch properties have played in promoting right-wing misinformation and shaping political narratives.
The move guarantees that Rupert Murdoch, who is 94, will pass the outlets on to a steward eager to preserve their existing editorial direction and political slant.
“The battle for the freedom of speech and, ultimately, the freedom of thought has never been more intense,” the Murdoch patriarch previously wrote. “My father firmly believed in freedom, and Lachlan is absolutely committed to the cause.”