From left, Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch.
Rupert Murdoch solidified succession plans for his media empire by naming his oldest son Lachlan as his replacement for chairman of the boards of News Corp. and Fox News, a move no one would have expected 18 years ago when the younger Murdoch stomped off to Australia amid a family spat.
But on Thursday, Lachlan Murdoch completed his long turnaround from exile to the top executive, after uncertainty over when (or really if) Rupert Murdoch — one of media’s most influential figures — would ever step down.
In a note to staff, Rupert Murdoch said he would remain involved with the board from the sidelines, expressing optimism about the next few years and writing, “When I visit your countries and companies, you can expect to see me in the office late on a Friday afternoon.”
So how did Lachlan Murdoch go from fleeing from his father to taking over from him? It was a long journey.
The Heir Apparent Takes Flight
Rupert Murdoch has six children, but only three of them were ever considered potential heirs—eldest son Lachlan, younger brother James and their sister Elisabeth; all were children of Murdoch’s second wife. (Another sister, Prudence, has kept a lower media profile; Rupert also has two much younger children with his third wife.)
Elisabeth could reportedly see the writing on the while from an early age. She knew her father was unlikely to turn his empire over to a woman, and while she stayed involved in the media business, she did it on her own terms, creating one successful production company (Shine Group) and then another (Sister Pictures.)
Lachlan and James worked more closely with their father, until one of them didn’t. Lachlan sparred with Fox News Channel founder Roger Ailes, and when Rupert took Ailes’s side in a fight in the mid-2000s, his son had apparently had enough. Lachlan moved with his wife and young child back to Australia, where Rupert built up his global empire, and stayed for almost a decade, founding a private investment firm and steering clear of News Corp.
Lachlan Returns To The Family Business
In 2014, with the years softening the dispute between father and son, Lachlan returned to work for his father again. There’s been speculation that his shared conservative views with his father were part of what lured him back. According to books written about the family, Elisabeth and James are said to have more center-leaning views.
Rupert undoubtedly wanted to protect those interests since the conservative-leaning Fox News is a crown jewel in the News Corp. empire. Like his dad, however, Lachlan is reportedly not a fan of former President Donald Trump. Michael Wolff’s new book about Fox News, coming out next week, claims Lachlan cried when Trump won in 2016; Rupert has criticized the former president.
Lachlan’s vision includes a more aggressive move into streaming, which will be necessary for any media company in the 21st century. And he helped nurture the career of Tucker Carlson, whose Fox News tenure ended abruptly earlier this year.
