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Lachlan Murdoch inherits a daunting to-do list. Observers are divided over how he will cope
By Anne Hyland
Lachlan Murdoch, 52, takes the helm of the businesses his father built, which face major challenges. Credit: Getty
First among equals is how media mogul Rupert Murdoch once described his eldest son Lachlan, when asked about the succession plan at his global media empire. Now with Rupert’s retirement this week from the boards of Fox Corporation and News Corporation, Lachlan’s position at the top of the family-controlled empire is cemented.
However, 52-year-old Lachlan inherits a daunting task. He takes control of the global newspaper and television businesses as both face major challenges. He becomes head of one of the most influential American media companies as the US goes into perhaps its most important presidential election in recent history. And, his every step will be measured against his father’s legacy.
Former News Corporation executive John Cowley has no doubt that Lachlan is up to the task. “He was trained by the best. His father would have rubbed off on him, but he’s also his own man. He will do a good job,” Cowley said.
Lachlan’s first real job in the Murdoch empire was working for Cowley. It was three decades ago, when at the age of 22, he joined Queensland Newspapers as its general manager. Fresh from having studied philosophy at Princeton University, the young Murdoch would walk the newsroom floor with his shirt sleeves rolled up – exposing a tribal tattoo on his left arm – discussing stories with journalists, much as his father had once done.
Over seven decades, Rupert Murdoch, 92, built a global media empire from a single Australian newspaper. As his business expanded so did his influence and he became one of the world’s most powerful, polarising and right-wing businessmen, owning outlets such as Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, The Times, and The Australian.
Rupert pitted Lachlan from an early age against two of his siblings, older sister Elisabeth and younger brother James, to take over the family empire.
Lachlan, Elisabeth and James would come and go from the family business, vying for their father’s affection and at times falling out with him. But it would be Lachlan who would return to the fold and stay.
The Murdoch family governs News Corporation and Fox Corporation through a family trust. Rupert has six children from three wives. The family trust owns almost 40 per cent of the voting shares in both companies.
Each of Murdoch’s children know how difficult it is being the progeny of a successful parent. Put simply, if the adult children of successful parents make good, it’s because of what their parents left them. If they don’t, people ask what’s wrong with them.
This is what Lachlan is up against, even in his middle age.
Billionaire James Packer can sympathise, as he spent most of the first half of his life being compared against his father – the late media tycoon Kerry Packer.
James multiplied the wealth he inherited from his father. But then his publicly listed Crown casino business became embroiled in a Chinese money-laundering scandal. It was fined, and he sold it, and since then, has focused on private investments.
“Lachlan will do very well. He’s following in a legend’s footsteps, one of the biggest, being Rupert, and that’s never easy,” says Packer, who has been friends with Lachlan for more than three decades. “But I think Lachlan’s ready, and he’s the right man for the job.”
Not everyone agrees.
The Murdoch family governs News Corporation and Fox Corporation through a family trust, which owns almost 40 per cent of the voting shares in both companies.Credit: Getty
Rod Tiffen is an emeritus professor at the University of Sydney, who has published books on the news media, including about Rupert Murdoch. He’s critical of Lachlan’s rise to the top of News Corporation and Fox Corporation.
“The idea that a position like that should go by heredity belongs more in the age of Jane Austen than of the contemporary corporate world,” Tiffen says. “It might be okay for the corner store to pass from father to son, but a global corporation should be based on some sort of merit, and not just having the same surname.”
Lachlan becomes chair of News Corporation, which owns newspaper and real estate assets, and also the chair and chief executive of Fox Corporation, which owns Fox News and Fox broadcasting.
In 2019, Fox sold its $US71.3 billion film and television business to Walt Disney, predicting the streaming war that is now playing out, and which has cost companies such as Disney, Netflix and Amazon billions. It was a clever move hailed as Rupert’s crowning achievement.
However, it has left Fox much smaller than many of its peers, with a focus on news and sport. The broadcast and cable TV outlets in the US are declining, and Fox is also competing against bigger players such as Amazon, Netflix, Comcast, Disney and Warner Brothers in securing sporting rights.
The embattled news arm was also sued after broadcasting conspiracy theories and claims of vote rigging promoted by Donald Trump in the 2020 election. Earlier this year, Fox settled a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting systems for $US787.5 million ($1.2 billion). It is now facing another lawsuit from a voting machine manufacturer, Smartmatic, which is likely to be at the top of Lachlan’s to-do list to resolve.
Another problem for Lachlan is that Donald Trump is shaping up as the most likely Republican candidate for the 2024 election, if he’s able to overcome the legal cases that he is facing.
Rupert Murdoch and then US president Donald Trump embrace at a function in 2017.Credit: Al Drago/The New York Times
However, it would be hard for Fox News to back him given Rupert has publicly criticised Trump and disowned him. And yet, much of the Fox News audience are Trump supporters. Fox News will risk alienating its audience more if Trump becomes the Republican candidate, and it doesn’t back him.
News Corporation has real estate assets such as REA Group and owns newspapers such as The Times, The Australian and the Wall Street Journal. The print assets are declining while the digital side of those newspapers has been growing, particularly the Dow Jones group in the US.
Matt Williams is head of Australian equities at Airlie Funds Management. It owns 2 per cent of the voting shares in News Corporation, which he argues remains undervalued. “Over the last ten years management have done a very good job with the Dow Jones business in re-aligning the business from being reliant on advertising to much more now a subscription-based business.”
He says Lachlan has been a good steward of News Corporation, and expects the strategy of that group to remain unchanged.
However, Tiffen expects there will be pressure to shut print newspapers when Rupert dies. “Everyone rightly goes on about what a terrific global media empire Rupert Murdoch has built. On the other hand, if you were writing his obituary now, you would say that he’s lost more money on newspapers than anyone else in history. And chances are that won’t continue after he dies.”
Tiffen expects that Lachlan will not make any significant changes to either Fox Corporation or News Corporation’s strategy while his father remains alive. “It’s much more likely that any changes will have to be after Rupert’s death, and then it’s quite unpredictable.”
The unpredictability is over whether Lachlan’s siblings who have voting rights in the trust – Prudence, Elisabeth and James – will be happy with his leadership of Fox Corporation and News Corporation, and the right-wing agendas they have pursued.
“In the short term, while Rupert’s alive, the other three children are going to be respectful,” says Tiffen. “But after he dies, then Lachlan’s relations with his other siblings will be much more difficult to predict.”
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