Rupert Murdoch has just pulled off what may be the most expensive family peace treaty in history with his $US71 billion sale of most of 21st Century Fox to Walt Disney.

For nearly three decades, Murdoch has primped, wooed and admonished his adult children in an endless quest to find the right heir to his global media empire – only to decide in late 2017 that he wasn’t really going to let go, at least to his family, and would sell out instead.