The Murdoch family on Monday resolved the legal battle over control of its media empire, which includes Fox Corp. and News Corp, the company said.
Lachlan Murdoch — the executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corp. and chairman of News Corp — will maintain control of the media giant forged by his 94-year-old father, Rupert Murdoch.
Under the terms of the deal, a new trust called LGC Holdco LLC, will be established for the benefit of Lachlan Murdoch, and his younger sisters Grace and Chloe Murdoch.
Lachlan Murdoch will control all the votes in LGC Holdco, which will hold large stakes in Fox Corp., parent company of top-rated cable network Fox News, and News Corp — whose properties include the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal — once the deal is completed.
His older siblings — Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch and James Murdoch — will cease to be beneficiaries in any trust holding shares in News Corp or Fox Corp.
Rupert Murdoch will continue in his role as Chairman Emeritus of both companies.
“News Corp’s board of directors welcomes these developments and believes that the leadership, vision and management by the Company’s Chair, Lachlan Murdoch, will continue to be important to guiding the Company’s strategy and success,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
Fox Corp. stock closed at an all-time high of $62.49 on Monday. News Corp shares closed at $29.94, less than $1 off its record high of $30.75.
The value of the family stock that it owned in the trust has increased 68%, or $3.4 billion, since Lachlan Murdoch took the reins in 2019.
New trusts for the benefit of the departing beneficiaries will receive cash consideration funded in part by using proceeds from the public sale of approximately 14.2 million shares of News Corp Class B common stock and approximately 16.9 million shares of Fox Corp.’s Class B common stock previously held by the Murdoch Family Trust.
The three siblings will get around $1.1 billion once the $3.3 billion deal closes within six months, sources told The Post.
They will also be required to sell any de minimis personal holdings in the two companies and “be subject to a long-term standstill agreement preventing them, and their affiliates, from acquiring shares of Fox and News Corporation and taking certain other actions with respect to the companies.”
As part of the agreement, the legal battle pitting Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch against the three older Murdoch children over the trust will end.
Rupert Murdoch had sought to amend the family trust so that Lachlan could assume control after his death. A Nevada court had ruled against altering the family trust.
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