Lachlan Murdoch

Murdoch was born on 8 September 1971 at Wimbledon Hospital in Wimbledon, London, the eldest son of Australian-born American media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and his second wife, Scottish journalist and author Anna Maria dePeyster (née Torv; formerly Murdoch). He was raised in New York City, where his father owned the New York Post, in Andover, Massachusetts. While at Princeton, he studied philosophy with Béatrice Longuenesse and Alan Hajek. His senior thesis was on German philosophy. == Career ==

News Corp executive (1995–2005) At the age of 22 and at this time became friends with James Packer, also the son of a media mogul. Encouraged to invest in One.Tel by his friend Australian businessman James Packer, the son of television network owner Kerry Packer, Murdoch was extensively criticised for encouraging News Corporation's multi-hundred million-dollar investment in the start-up telecommunications company in the late 1990s. In April 2014, Murdoch and Packer agreed to an 40 million settlement over the failure of One.Tel. The settlement was approved by the Supreme Court of New South Wales on 17 April 2014, with 14.93 million to be paid by the Packer family's Consolidated Press Holdings, 11.77 million to be paid by Packer's Crown Resorts and 13.3 million to be paid by News Corp. During this time, Murdoch and his wife lived near his father in New York, and socialised with glamorous people, including expats Baz Luhrmann and Nicole Kidman. During his time at News Corp, Murdoch had oversight of HarperCollins and the company's lines of business in Australia, including REA. He also served on the board of Foxtel and as chairman of Fox Television stations, and was the publisher of the New York Post. While at the New York Post, its circulation grew by over 40 per cent. after a clash with then Fox News head Roger Ailes, with whom his father had sided, and returned to Australia with his wife and son. At the time, aged 34, he was the third most powerful executive in the company. Private investments (2005–2014) On leaving News Corp with a two-year non-compete agreement, in 2005. On 21 January 2008, Murdoch and James Packer announced that their companies, Illyria and Consolidated Press Holdings would seek to privatise the publicly listed Consolidated Media Holdings. It was expected that the proposed 3.3 billion deal would deliver Murdoch and Packer with private stakes in Foxtel, Fox Sports, Universal Media Firm and PBL Media, with the latter owning the Nine Network and ACP Magazines. Packer eventually decided to sell down his stake in media companies in a series of transactions between 2006 and 2008, and the deal with Murdoch collapsed. In November 2009, Illyria acquired 50% of a network of radio network DMG Radio, which was renamed Nova Entertainment, Nova Entertainment grew into the leading network of FM stations in Australia. In February 2011, Murdoch was appointed acting CEO of Ten Network Holdings after the company's board terminated the contract of CEO Grant Blackley. The following month Packer unexpectedly resigned from the board. In February 2012, the Ten board appointed Murdoch non-executive chairman of Ten Network Holdings. Although Ten was already in some financial difficulties before Murdoch became CEO, by late 2012, on paper Illyria had lost 110 million of the original 150 million invested since 2010. The share price had fallen by about 80% and network profits had dropped by over half. In an attempt to control costs, Ten had reduced employment numbers by 160 people, and the problems were mainly attributed to falling advertising revenues and restructuring at the network. Ten purchased, at three times its original cost, the Australian rights for MasterChef from the Australian subsidiary of the Shine Group, itself a subsidiary of the News Corpowned 21st Century Fox. On 14 June 2017, Ten went into voluntary administration after Murdoch and fellow shareholder Bruce Gordon declined to extend the company's credit facility. Two bids were received for Ten; one from Murdoch and Gordon and one from CBS Corporation – Ten's largest creditor. The CBS bid was preferred by both the administrators and creditors. CBS's successful bid meant Murdoch lost his entire investment in the network. Return to News Corp (2014) In March 2014, Murdoch was appointed as non-executive co-chairman of News Corp and 21st Century Fox (one of two companies formed in June 2013 from the old News Corp) in a move that was seen as succession planning for the media empire. This was in the wake of the phone hacking scandal in the UK and his father's divorce from Wendi Deng. In June 2015 he was named as executive chairman of 21st Century Fox. After 21st Century Fox was acquired by Disney in March 2019, Murdoch was named as the chairman and CEO of the Fox Corporation, and was named by his father as heir to his business interests. President Donald Trump met him in 2019. In 2023, The Australian Financial Review placed Lachlan Murdoch 33rd on their list of Australia's wealthiest people, with his wealth estimated at billion (US$2.1 billion). In a July 2024 interview with Paul Kelly of The Australian, Murdoch said: Murdoch is executive chair and CEO of Fox Corporation, as well as chair of News Corp and executive chairman of Nova Entertainment, an Australian company. ==Other activities==

In 2002, Murdoch gave the Andrew Olle Media Lecture. Murdoch is one of the founding patrons (along with Anthony Pratt, Peter Lowy, and Lisa Fox) of an organisation called "Advance", formerly known as the Young Australian Professionals in America. They held a benefit dinner in November 2005. == Lawsuits ==

Dominion lawsuit (2021–2023) In 2021, Lachlan Murdoch and his father Rupert were the defendants in a $1.6 billion lawsuit, filed by voting machine maker Dominion Voting Systems, for knowingly and maliciously spreading false accusations that Dominion committed election fraud. Fox News Corporation requested that the case be dismissed and on 16 December 2021, the court rejected the request, with the opinion that "Dominion adequately pleaded actual malice by Fox News". On 6 June 2022, Fox News Corp requested Judge Eric M. Davis drop the lawsuit. In his opinion, Judge Davis denied the request, saying that Dominion had shown enough evidence of actual malice on behalf of Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch of Fox Corporation to allow the case to continue. Documentation obtained by Dominion showed that Lachlan had played "a hands-on role in determining the political thrust of Fox News in favour of Trump". and Tucker Carlson was dismissed on 24 April 2023. Crikey (2022–2023) Murdoch sent a series of legal threats to Crikey, an Australian electronic magazine, after political editor Bernard Keane tied the Murdochs to the January 6 United States Capitol attack in a 29 June 2022 article. Crikey originally removed the article to avoid legal persecution but later republished it, with editor Peter Fray accusing Murdoch of "using the law to silence public debate", and "seeking to intimidate us". On 21 April 2023, Murdoch's lawyers filed a notice to discontinue the case. Murdoch had to pay more than in legal fees to Private Media after abandoning the case. , the case continues. In July 2024, Smartmatic subpoenaed four Fox Corporation board members. Family challenge (2024–2025) In September 2024, the Murdoch family is involved in a court case in Reno, Nevada, in which three of Lachlan's siblings (James, his sister Elisabeth and half-sister Prudence MacLeod) are challenging their father's bid to amend the family trust to ensure that Lachlan retains control of News Corp and Fox Corp, rather than benefiting all of his six children, as is specified in the "irrevocable" terms of the trust. According to The New York Times, Murdoch Sr wants his companies to remain politically conservative, and sees his other children as too politically liberal. The terms of the trust dictate that the four children would continue to have these votes after Rupert's death. Chloe and Grace Murdoch, Rupert's children with third wife Wendi Deng, will have no say in the business, although will share the stock proceeds. The case follows Rupert's attempt to change the trust in October 2023 (which he dubbed "Project Harmony"), revealed to his offspring in December of that year, According to the Wall Street Journal in September 2024, James had made an attempt at settlement, in a proposal that included the possible sale of his and his sisters' interests in the trust. However, this would lead to a loosening of the hold of Lachlan and Rupert on the companies, as they would be under financial strain. He argues that preserving the outlet's conservative editorial stance against interference by the more politically moderate siblings would better protect its commercial value. == Personal life ==

Apart from full siblings Elisabeth and James Murdoch, Lachlan has three half-siblings, an elder half-sister Prudence, and two younger sisters by his father's third marriage, Grace and Chloe. has often stated that he sees himself as Australian and his home is in Australia. Having lived and worked for extended periods in the US Murdoch married British-born Australian model/actress Sarah O'Hare in 1999. The couple have two sons; and one daughter. The Murdochs owned "Berthong", a house in , Sydney, until it was sold to Russell Crowe in 2003. In November 2009, Murdoch purchased "Le Manoir", a mansion in Bellevue Hill for $23 million; and purchased an adjoining property two years later. In 2017, Murdoch and his wife paid 29 million for a large equestrian property in Aspen, Colorado, that contains a six-bedroom home. In 2019, they purchased the Chartwell Estate in Los Angeles for an estimated 150 million. Murdoch owns homes in Sydney, Aspen, and Los Angeles. His wife and children have lived in Sydney since 2021, and Lachlan splits his time between there, Los Angeles (location of Fox Corp. HQ), and New York City, where News Corp is headquartered. Political views Although it has been assumed that Lachlan is more conservative than his siblings, it was reported that he did not support Trump's presidency, and kept toilet paper printed with his face in his house during the 2016 campaign. However, he has backed his father's moves in business, including defending Tucker Carlson when he was on the rise. In February 2023, Lachlan and his wife Sarah Murdoch gave a $1 million donation to a queer museum in Sydney called Qtopia, although protests outside the museum opening accused the Murdochs of 'pinkwashing' decades of vilifying the queer community. Ancestry ==Recognition and in the media==

In June 2005, Murdoch received the Press & Outdoor Advertising "media person of the year" award in Cannes. In September 2024, the ABC aired a three-part documentary for their Australian Story program entitled: "Making Lachlan Murdoch". Murdoch did not participate in its production, which was made by journalist Paddy Manning and introduced by veteran ABC journalist Leigh Sales, but it does feature a 2001 interview with him, and his billionaire friend James Packer is interviewed. The opening episode, "Blood" focuses on his father, Rupert, and grandfather Sir Keith Murdoch. The second episode is called "Money". The series is also aired on YouTube. == Net worth ==