Third-eldest of Rupert Murdoch's six children. Chief executive of Fox Corporation and chairman of News Corp. Born in London, raised in New York, he considers himself Australian and moved to Sydney with his wife, Sarah Murdoch—a former model and presenter on one of the Murdochs' Australian networks—and their three children in 2021, though he reportedly still sometimes works to American hours.
He graduated from Princeton University, where his dissertation was on Immanuel Kant's ethics. A gap-year stint at the printing presses in Sydney marked his entry to the family firm. He worked for the Murdoch newspaper business in Australia before moving to Fox in New York. After falling out with Roger Ailes, the late, since-disgraced head of Fox News, he quit in 2005 and returned to Australia to pursue his own investments. His younger brother James moved into pole position. Ten years later Lachlan returned to the fold. James left, unhappy with the right-wing slant of Fox News. When Rupert Murdoch retired in 2023, Lachlan became chief executive of Fox and chairman of News Corp.
He is more blokeish than his brother, with an interest in rugby and rock-climbing, but less frugal than his father—he recently bought Chartwell Mansion, a ten-acre Bel Air pile and one of the most expensive homes in California. Whereas Rupert amused Hollywood executives in the 1980s with his Walmart shirts and habit of walking the four miles from his home to the Fox lot, Lachlan's tastes run larger.
He appears to share his father's political flexibility. In 2023 his family foundation gave A$1m ($660,000) to Qtopia, a gay museum in Sydney. In 2016, according to a book by journalist Michael Wolff, he had loo-roll printed with Donald Trump's face in his home. But he now sees Trump as good for business. He rescued REA Group from near-bankruptcy in 2001; the Australian property-listing platform is now worth over $20bn. At Fox he has pushed experiments in digital technology. In 2020 Fox bought Tubi, an ad-supported streaming service that has since overtaken rivals.
On September 8th 2025—Lachlan's 54th birthday—the Murdoch family announced a resolution to the decades-long dispute over who will control the empire when Rupert dies. Under the deal, the three rebel siblings (Prudence, Elisabeth and James) reportedly gave up their votes in exchange for a pay-out of about $1bn each. The agreement gives Lachlan a controlling stake in both Fox Corporation and News Corp until 2050, making him one of the world's most powerful media figures for decades to come. The combined market value of the two firms is $42bn.
The scum also rises.