With Rupert Murdoch stepping down as chairman of Fox Corporation and executive chairman of News Corp., his son, Lachlan Murdoch, will now step into command of the Murdochs' media empire.
Lachlan Murdoch will be elevated to sole chairman of News Corp. and will continue as executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corporation once Rupert Murdoch steps down in mid-November, according to the company. Here is a look at the incoming leader of Fox.
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The oldest son of Rupert Murdoch and his second wife, Anna Torv, Lachlan Murdoch was born in 1971 in London, United Kingdom, and has served in his father's various companies for several decades.
He served on the board of 21st Century Fox from 1996 until the company was acquired by Walt Disney Company in 2019, and also served as co-chairman of the company and several other executive roles from 1996-2005. The younger Murdoch also founded the private investment firm Illyria Pty.
Lachlan Murdoch currently serves as the head of Fox Corporation, a role he has held since the company was spun off following the sale of 21st Century Fox in 2019. During his time in his father's media empire, he has reportedly had influence over several key decisions in the various companies.
Fox Corporation says Murdoch was "instrumental" to the spin-off after he had served as executive chairman of 21st Century Fox prior to the Disney acquisition. Lachlan Murdoch, along with his brother James Murdoch, reportedly worked together to oust Roger Ailes from Fox News in 2016 after Ailes was accused of sexual harassment by several employees at the company.
The personal politics of Lachlan Murdoch have been the subject of speculation for years, with the younger Murdoch tending to remain quiet about his political views.
In 2022, Murdoch delivered a speech to a conservative think tank in Australia discussing how he believes elites disdain traditional values, spoke out against pandemic-era shutdowns, and ripped the censorship of the New York Post's 2020 report on the Hunter Biden laptop, according to the Washington Post. The speech, along with other actions by Murdoch, seem to hint he will not steer the company in a new ideological direction when he takes over from his father.
Lachlan Murdoch will take over the company after a rocky few months for the company's flagship cable news network, Fox News Channel. The network settled a defamation lawsuit with voting machine company Dominion for $787 million in April and parted ways with prime-time host Tucker Carlson more than a week later.
Upon the news of his father stepping down from the head of the family's media empire, Lachlan Murdoch congratulated his father in a statement on Thursday.
“On behalf of the FOX and News Corp boards of directors, leadership teams, and all the shareholders who have benefited from his hard work, I congratulate my father on his remarkable 70-year career,” Lachlan Murdoch said.
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“We thank him for his vision, his pioneering spirit, his steadfast determination, and the enduring legacy he leaves to the companies he founded and countless people he has impacted. We are grateful that he will serve as Chairman Emeritus and know he will continue to provide valued counsel to both companies.”
Rupert Murdoch will continue to serve as the head of both Fox Corporation and News Corp. until the annual general meeting of shareholders of each company in two months.