The War of the Murdochs appears to have come to an end.
The media sector’s prominent Murdoch family settled a long-running dispute Monday that will leave Lachlan Murdoch in control of voting shares that govern both News Corp. and Fox Corp. while selling off stakes in the company attached to founder Rupert Murdoch’s other children who had challenged their father’s ability to restructure his heirs’ oversight of both corporations.
Fox Corp. and News Corp. both said Monday that the family had terminated all litigation tied to the elder Murdoch’s efforts to assign control of the family’s shares to Lachlan, who currently oversees both corporations. Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch and James Murdoch, Rupert’s children who fought his efforts, will cease to be beneficiaries in any of the family’s holding trusts in the conglomerates.
The maneuvers would appear to cement Rupert Murdoch’s desire to maintain the conservative leanings of his media empire, particularly at Fox News, which has become the economic linchpin of Fox Corp. James Murdoch and Elisabeth Murdoch have been known to hold different political views than Lachlan, with James notably contributing to causes that are not in keeping with the opinions espoused on the cable network.
And the settlement means Fox News has a clear path ahead of it as two of its main rivals, CNN and MSNBC, face unique challenges. MSNBC will soon be part of Versant, a spin-off of most of the cable properties tied to NBCUniversal. Under new president Rebecca Kutler, MSNBC has worked to build out its reporting and newsgathering staff, and in recent weeks, has been spotted not only delivering the progressive analysis and opinion for which it is best known, but also trying to cover mainstream news headlines and topics. CNN, meanwhile, has largely floundered under the leadership of current owner Warner Bros. Discovery, ceding audience as its managers sought to tamp down a crusading edge it took on under previous leader Jeff Zucker. CNN and Warner’s other TV networks are expected to split from the company in a transaction that is expected to be completed in 2026.
Murdoch had filed a bid to amend at irrevocable family trust that ensured four of his children — Lachlan, James, Prudence and Elisabeth — had equal say in governing how Fox Corp. and News Corp. are run. However, a probate court commissioner in Nevada, where the matter was adjudicated, rebuked the effort, after which Rupert Murdoch had signaled an intent to appeal.
Fox Corp. said trusts representing James, Elisabeth and Prudence would offer an aggregate of 16,926,837 shares of the company’s Class B common stock, while News Corp. indicated similar trusts would offer 14,182,161 shares of that company’s Class B stake.
According to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, each of the three children should come away from the transaction with half a billion dollars. All three will be required to sell any personal holdings in either Fox Corp. or News Corp and be barred under a long-term agreement from buying shares in either corporation.
After the sale, the Murdochs’ votes in both concerns will be diluted, and they will hold approximately 33.1& of News Corp. voting shares and 36.2 percent of voting shares in Fox Corp.
Settlement of the imbroglio will remove one matter of corporate distraction from the boards of both companies at a fraught moment for the media industry. Unlike rivals such as Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery and Comcast, Fox pared down its interests in cable several years ago when it sold a significant chunk of its assets to Disney. As competitors have worked furiously to keep cable afloat as more consumers moved to streaming venues, Fox has narrowed much of its focus to live and event programming with a heavy emphasis on sports and news.
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