Murdoch Family Ends Succession Feud with $3.3 Billion Buyout

In the real life version of “Succession,” the Murdoch family has reached a decisive settlement in its long-running succession battle, handing Lachlan Murdoch firm control of the global media empire his father built. The $3.3 billion agreement, announced September 8, 2025, ensures the conservative editorial line of Fox News, The New York Post, and The Wall Street Journal will remain intact under Lachlan’s leadership for decades to come.

The pact dissolves the old family trust—long a source of infighting—and creates a new one that places Lachlan, along with his younger sisters Grace and Chloe, in command of Fox Corporation and News Corp until at least 2050. Lachlan’s elder siblings, Prue, Elisabeth, and James, who had resisted the rightward drift of the empire, will each receive $1.1 billion in exchange for their shares, according to The New York Times.

The resolution brings an end to litigation that began after Rupert Murdoch, 94, attempted to rewrite the terms of the trust in Lachlan’s favor. Established during Rupert’s divorce from Anna Mann, the trust had originally given equal power to the four eldest children. As Fox News grew more partisan, however, ideological fissures sharpened: Lachlan aligned with his father’s conservative vision, while his siblings distanced themselves from it.

A Nevada probate commissioner derailed Rupert’s initial attempt to alter the trust last year, dismissing the maneuver as a “carefully crafted charade.” The ruling triggered appeals and ballooning legal costs before both camps returned to negotiations. The final deal, stitched together with loans, holding companies, and stock trades, delivers Lachlan a clear mandate while granting his siblings a lucrative exit.

For Lachlan, the agreement removes any doubt about the empire’s future direction. For his siblings, it provides financial independence and relief from the politics of a company they had often criticized. The outcome preserves Rupert Murdoch’s legacy: a global media powerhouse, staunchly conservative in character, passed into the hands of his chosen heir.

The settlement closes one of the most bitter dynastic disputes in modern media history—a saga watched as closely for its Shakespearean family drama as for its implications in American and international politics.

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