So after years of family drama, the Murdochs have finally settled who takes over the empire. Rupert Murdoch, now 94, has made it official: his son Lachlan will run the show once he’s gone.

That means Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post and the rest of the empire will stay firmly on a conservative track.

Here’s how it shook out: Lachlan gets control of a new family trust. His siblings — Prudence, Elisabeth, and James — are out. They’ll no longer have any say in Fox or News Corp. Instead, they’ll be cashing out their shares. Reports say each of them will walk away with around $1.1 billion. Not exactly pocket change.

This marks the end of years of tension. The family’s fight over control was so intense that it inspired the hit show Succession. Now, with this deal, all the lawsuits are wrapped up too.

What’s interesting is how different Lachlan is from his older siblings. James especially has distanced himself from the business, criticizing Fox’s coverage of climate change and the 2020 U.S. election. Elisabeth and Prudence lean more centrist too. Rupert, though, always worried they’d outvote Lachlan — the most conservative of the bunch — after he died. That won’t happen now.

Media veteran Andrew Neil summed it up bluntly: Rupert “bought out” the siblings to secure Lachlan’s future at the helm. It was expensive, but effective.

Of course, there’s a personal cost. Rupert has always described his empire as a “family business,” but in securing Lachlan’s control, he’s likely fractured the family for good.

For now, Lachlan remains chairman of News Corp and Fox Corp, while Rupert still holds the honorary title of chairman emeritus. The empire stays in the family — just not all of it. Photo by Eva Rinaldi, Wikimedia commons.