Lachlan
Murdoch

Lachlan Murdoch has a foot in both halves of the Murdoch kingdom through his roles as executive chairman of 21st Century Fox and co-executive chairman of News Corporation. At Fox, all divisions report up through Lachlan and his brother James Murdoch, who serves as New York-based CEO. Based in Los Angeles, Lachlan plays an active role in the management of the conglomerates Hollywood-based entertainment operations.

In the late 1990s, Lachlan Murdoch was widely seen as the heir apparent to Rupert Murdoch. Fresh out of Princeton University, he was sent to his father’s native Australia to work for the company’s newspaper division. By 1996, he was back in New York serving as deputy chief operating officer of News Corporation. Murdoch was entrusted with overseeing the profitable Fox Television Stations division and served as publisher of the New York Post. But he clashed with former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes in the management of the stations and the then-fledgling Fox News cable channel. In a battle for control, Ailes won.

Murdoch returned to Australia in 2005 and launched Illyria Pty firm to invest in TV and radio assets. In 2009, he became chairman of the pay TV and radio network Nova Entertainment, which Illyria helped to assemble.

Lachlan was recruited back into the Fox and News Corporation fold in early 2014 when he was named co-chairman alongside his father.