Lachlan Murdoch, chairman and CEO of Fox Corp., won the succession battle against his siblings to hold voting power over the TV media company and News Corp, which were built by their father, Rupert Murdoch.
And Murdoch, speaking Wednesday at the 2025 Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference in San Francisco, said that the resolution of the matter is “great news for investors.”
With Lachlan in control of Fox Corp., the exec said, “it gives us a clarity about our strategy going forward.”
“It shows our strategy will be consistent. It’s clear, and it’s very sustainable,” he said. In the months and years ahead, he continued, “We can be very focused on returning capital to investors,” as well as investing in “our great journalism” and “remain[ing] focused on the path that we’re on.”
Murdoch was on stage for only about 10 minutes at the conference. The session was scheduled to start at 10:10 a.m. Pacific but he was running late because his flight from L.A. to San Francisco that morning was hit with a one-hour delay before takeoff. Murdoch’s session kicked off at 10:36 a.m. and concluded about 10 minutes later. (Murdoch apologized for his tardiness.)
On Monday, the Murdoch family announced the settlement of a long-running legal dispute that will leave Lachlan Murdoch in control of voting shares for both News Corp and Fox Corp. Under the agreement, Lachlan is buying out the stakes of three of Rupert Murdoch’s other children — James Murdoch, Prudence MacLeod and Elisabeth Murdoch — who had challenged their father’s ability to restructure his heirs’ oversight of both corporations.
The pact gives Lachlan Murdoch control over Fox and News Corp through 2050. Regarding his comment about the agreement providing “clarity” about Fox’s strategy, Murdoch may have been alluding to the fact that the three other siblings were not right-leaning politically — and that they may have tried to change the focus of Fox News in the event they gained a say over the family biz.
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Meanwhile, in the biggest direct-to-consumer play for Fox Corp. to date, the company on Aug. 21 launched Fox One. The service, priced at $19.99/month, provides access to programming across its linear portfolio, including Fox local stations, Fox News Channel, Fox Business, Fox Weather, and Fox Sports (including FS1, FS2, Fox Deportes and B1G). Users can purchase a bundle of Fox One and Fox News’ Fox Nation for $24.99/month.
Murdoch, without providing specifics, said at Wednesday’s conference that Fox One “in the first few weeks exceeded expectations.”
Fox Corp. also last month was embroiled in a carriage fight with Google’s YouTube TV. The two sides reached terms on a renewal after a short-term extension to their previous pact, averting a blackout of Fox News and other nets on YouTube TV.
For the quarter ended June 30, Fox’s fiscal Q4 of 2025, the company’s revenue rose 6%, to $3.29 billion, largely on the strength of ad sales for Fox News and free, ad-supported streamer Tubi. Net income for the period more than doubled to $717 million.
From Variety US