Murdoch Family Settles Battle Over Trust
Rupert Murdoch has reached a deal with his children that will pass control of his media assets to his eldest son, Lachlan.
2 min
The Murdoch family has reached a deal to end its yearslong battle over control of its media empire.
Lachlan Murdoch is set to take control of his father’s media assets as part of an agreement announced Monday between the patriarch and his children. Lachlan will control all the votes in a new trust that will hold sizable stakes in Fox Corp. and News Corp once the deal is completed.
The Murdoch trust, which currently holds roughly 40% voting stakes in Fox and Wall Street Journal parent News Corp, was initially designed to give each of his four oldest children an equal voting share.
As part of the settlement announced Monday, Rupert Murdoch’s children James, Elisabeth and Prudence will give up their claims to the existing trust. They will instead receive new trusts with cash funded in part by sales of some of the existing trust’s Fox and News Corp stock.
The three children will also be subject to a long-term agreement preventing them from buying shares in the companies.
Fox and News Corp shares fell slightly in after market trading.
The new agreement caps a tumultuous succession drama atop media companies whose holdings include cable giant Fox News, major newspapers in the U.S., U.K. and Australia; digital real-estate companies and HarperCollins Publishers. It also brings to a close a conflict that potentially threatened the futures of both News Corp and Fox Corp.
Murdoch, 94 years old, had sought to amend the family trust to put control in the hands of Lachlan. James, Elisabeth and Prudence opposed the change.
Fred Greaves/Reuters
An acrimonious family battle has played out largely behind closed doors and in sealed court proceedings in recent years. Last December, a Nevada probate commissioner ruled against Murdoch’s efforts to amend terms of the trust and give control to Lachlan.
Murdoch sought the change, in part , because Lachlan is the one most aligned with his conservative political views as well as the best manager to run the companies.
New trusts will also be created for Lachlan, who is executive chair and chief executive officer of Fox Corp. and chair of News Corp, as well as the two children that Rupert Murdoch had with Wendi Deng. Grace and Chloe Murdoch are beneficiaries of the original trust .
A holding company owned by Lachlan, Grace and Chloe Murdoch’s new trusts will control about 36% of Fox and 33% of News Corp.
Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch had no comment beyond the announcement. A spokesman for Elisabeth Murdoch and Prudence MacLeod declined to comment. Deng and a representative for James Murdoch couldn’t be reached for comment.
A spokesman for Anna dePeyster, mother of Elisabeth, James and Lachlan, declined to comment.
Copyright 2020, Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. LEARN MORE
Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi star in an adaptation of the classic novel that respects the romance’s slow burn.
High-end homeowners are choosing to upgrade rather than relocate, investing in bespoke design, premium finishes and long-term lifestyle value.
The social-media company’s revenue increased 14%, falling short of estimates.
2 min
Pinterest shares tumbled after the company projected that revenue growth would slow in the first quarter, amid an advertiser pullback that weighed on its fourth-quarter earnings.
Shares slid 18.5% to $15.10 in after-hours trading after closing the market session down 2.9% at $18.54.
Pinterest reported a 14% increase in fourth-quarter revenue to $1.32 billion, up from $1.15 billion a year earlier, but short of analysts’ estimate of $1.33 billion, according to FactSet. The company posted 17% revenue growth in the third quarter.
The company expects growth to decelerate further in the current first quarter, projecting growth between 11% and 14%. It’s forecasting revenue between $951 million and $971 million.
Chief Executive Officer William Ready said the company needs to broaden its revenue mix and accelerate sales going forward.
“We are not satisfied with our Q4 revenue performance and believe it does not reflect what Pinterest can deliver over time,” he told analysts on a call Thursday. “We are moving with urgency to return over time to the mid-to-high-teens growth, or better than what we have been consistently delivering.”
Pinterest on Thursday recorded a profit of $277.1 million, or 41 cents a share, compared with its profit of $1.85 billion, or $2.68 a share, a year earlier. The $1.85 billion profit in 2024 included a $1.6 billion benefit from deferred tax assets.
Stripping out certain one-time items, Pinterest logged adjusted earnings of 67 cents a share, in line with analyst expectations, according to FactSet.
Ready said the company continues to see headwinds from larger retailers pulling back on advertising spending to protect their margins amid the impact from President Trump’s tariffs.
“We saw continued softness from this cohort of large retailers,” Ready said. “While we see opportunity over the long term, the near-term outlook for this cohort on our platform remains pressured given these headwinds.”
Ready said the company has expanded its footprint among mid-market and small-to-medium business advertisers, as well as international businesses. Still, he said Pinterest had a ways to go to offset the headwinds from larger advertisers, which may become even more pronounced in the current quarter.
Chief Financial Officer Julia Donnelly added that the company is looking to increase its investments in sales and research and development related to artificial-intelligence following the launch of its restructuring effort in January. Pinterest said last month that it would cut about 15% of its workforce, or approximately 700 jobs.
From the shacks of yesterday to the sculptural sanctuaries of today, Australia’s coastal architecture has matured into a global benchmark for design.
By improving sluggish performance or replacing a broken screen, you can make your old iPhone feel new agai
