Rupert Murdoch Is Stepping Down As Chairman of Fox. Meet His Son Lachan, the Real-Life 'Kendall Roy' Taking Over the Family Business Lachlan will now be the sole executive at the helm of the Fox and News Corp global media brands.
Key Takeaways
- Rupert Murdoch will be named Chairman Emeritus of both companies.
- Lachlan has been training for the top role for years.
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Rupert Murdoch is stepping down from his media conglomerate.
After 70 years at the helm of Fox and News Corp., both companies announced the 92-year-old's retirement on Thursday. Son Lachlan has been crowned his successor and the new sole Chair of News Corp.
Rupert Murdoch is set to step down after a shareholders meeting in November and will be appointed Chairman Emeritus of both companies.
"We are grateful that he will serve as Chairman Emeritus and know he will continue to provide valued counsel to both companies," Lachlan stated in the company announcement.
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch at the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, on July 13, 2018.
At that time, Lachlan will assume his new role and continue to serve as Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Fox Corporation. He's held his current titles since 2019, when he took over operations after the company sold the majority of 20th Century Fox to the Walt Disney Company, per The New York Times. The deal was reportedly worth $71.3 billion, according to NPR.
Keep scrolling for more details about the new boss at the news giant.
Who is Lachlan Murdoch?
Lachlan Murdoch, 52, is Rupert Murdoch's eldest son. He was born in London but grew up in the United States and graduated from Princeton University. He joined the family business at age 18, and by the time he was 34, he was one of the top three News Corp executives with control over the New York Post and several Fox TV franchises in the U.S., according to The Guardian.
In pop culture, he's been rumored to be the real-life inspiration for Kendall Roy from the HBO show "Succession," which tells the story of a founder of a news conglomerate struggling with the decision to hand over his company to one of his four children. Kendall, the not-technically-eldest-boy, had been pining for the job since the pilot. The show ended with a final, fourth season in May, featured the siblings vying for the role.
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It has long been rumored that the Murdoch children, namely Lachlan and his brother James, 50, were both interested in taking over, as the duo were named co-chairmen of 21st Century Fox in 2015, per CNN.
Lachlan stepped in as the CEO of the Fox Corporation in 2019, before James left the company in 2020 citing "disagreements over certain editorial content" following the 2020 presidential election coverage, according to CNN.
Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Lachlan Murdoch, co-chairman and chief executive officer of Fox Corp.,
arrives during the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S., on Thursday, July 11, 2019.
Lachlan mainly resides in Australia, where he founded an Australian private investment company, Illyria. He married his wife Sarah in 1999, and the couple shares three children.
What is Lachlan Murdoch's net worth?
Rupert Murdoch and his family have a combined net worth of $17.4 billion, per Forbes.
Lachlan's total compensation for the fiscal year 2022 was $21,748,681, with a base salary of $3 million, according to an SEC filing. In 2021, his total compensation was $27,675,399.
There's been no word on what his new paycheck will look like.
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Who are Rupert Murdoch's other children?
In addition to Lachlan, Rupert Murdoch is the father of five other children.
Rupert shares his eldest daughter, Prudence Macleod, with his first wife, Patricia Booker, per CNN. The two divorced in 1967. A few months later, he married Anna Torv. The couple had three children: Elisabeth, now 55, Lachlan, and James.
After 31 years of marriage, the pair divorced in 1999. That same year, Murdoch went on to marry Wendi Deng. The couple welcomed daughter Grace in 2001, and their daughter Chloe Murdoch in 2003. Deng and Murdoch divorced in 2013.
