Lachlan Murdoch

Executive Chairman & CEO, Fox Corporation (Class B)

Lachlan Murdoch takes business into his own hands | Part 2 | Australian Story

🎥 Feb 05, 2025 📺 ABC News In-depth ⏱ 40m 👁 106464 views

Who is Lachlan Murdoch? And how has he been shaped by the family legacy, his rivalry with his siblings, the years at his father, Rupert Murdoch's, side and those spent estranged from the media empire? This second episode, Money, examines Lachlan's complicated relationship with the family business – his desire to prove himself to his father and take over the empire but his need to also show that he can also go it alone. Subscribe: https://ab.co/3yqPOZ5 Read more here: https://bit.ly/4egdQb8 #AustralianStory #MakingLachlanMurdoch #RupertMurdoch CHAPTERS 00:00 – Who is Lachlan Murdoch? 03:...

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About Lachlan Murdoch

In a February 2025 episode of Australian Story, Lachlan Murdoch described his family as "an ordinary family with ordinary family issues in perhaps extraordinary circumstances" and said he is "conservative economically" and "more liberal on social policy." He noted that when people tell him to think a certain way, he is "more inclined to think a different way." The program examined his relationship with his father, Rupert Murdoch, and his path to leadership at Fox. In March 2022, Murdoch delivered a speech at the launch of the Centre for the Australian Way of Life at the Institute of Public Affairs. He argued that Australia's COVID-19 lockdowns involved "surrendering personal liberties" and said the media's job is "to question these policies" and "hold our elected officials to account." He criticized YouTube and other tech platforms for what he called "ensuring that only the current orthodox view is allowed" and said Australia is "one of the most tolerant, generous, independent, and multicultural countries in human history." In a May 2022 appearance, Murdoch described Tom Brady as a "partner" for Fox Sports and said the company was "happily on the sidelines watching this bloodbath in the SVOD market" as competitors like Netflix lost subscribers.

Source: AI-verified profile updated from Lachlan Murdoch's recent appearances. Browse all interviews →

Transcript (99 segments)

Lachlan Murdoch0:11

I don't think we ever realized that we were in an extraordinary family. I still think in many ways we're not an extraordinary family. We're an ordinary family with ordinary family issues in perhaps extraordinary circumstances. We love getting in debates. It gets to a point where sometimes family members will have dinner with people and if no one's really talking about much or no one is enjoying a debate, we'll start taking positions against each other we don't really believe in, but we just want to cause some excitement. I'm conservative economically on the economic sort of policy. I'm more liberal on social policy. What I do find is that when people tell me to think a certain way or that I should think a certain way, I'm more inclined to think a different way.

James Packer1:03

Who is Lachlan Murdoch? Well, it's a good question. God, people are complex, right? He's my friend. Intelligent, incredibly family-oriented, conservative. There's nothing wrong with that.

Lachlan Murdoch1:24

Who are you most like of your mother and father? Like, I don't know. I think I'm hopefully a mixture of both. Hopefully I've got my mother's looks.

Narrator1:35

When I think about Lachlan, I think about someone who is still in his father's shadow. Lachlan Murdoch is the son of the biggest and grandest media mogul in history. If his name was Lachlan Smith, we'd never be talking about him.

Lachlan Murdoch is an executive. He hasn't allowed us to see him to walk, despite some of our best efforts. Lachlan Murdoch is more conservative than his dad but less interested in politics, and he doesn't want to be in the political fray the way that his dad did and does.

I think the question of who Lachlan Murdoch is, it's a tough question to answer because the answer, from my perspective, in my opinion, it's kind of scary. He sits in such a position of power and influence without really caring or being grounded by very much for anything. A lot of damage can be created as a result of that. I think he did crave an admiration from his father. I think he was looking to have a successful media empire on his own.

Rupert Murdoch's come a very long way since the days when he was dubbed the Dirty Digger. Now in his mid-60s, he's thinking about succession. Who will control the empire when he goes? Rupert Murdoch's a family man and he wants the Murdoch dynasty to pass to his children, but which one?

Interviewer3:39

Hello, Mr. M. Hello again, how are you? What's going to happen to News Corporation when you die?

Rupert Murdoch3:46

I feel a lot better.

Interviewer3:50

Is your son Lachlan the natural heir apparent?

Rupert Murdoch3:53

Well, I've got another son and a daughter, and we'll have to see how they work it out. I hope not fight it out, but I certainly... it would be very nice. It's every father's natural desire to see, I think, these children follow him if they're up to it, but they've got to prove themselves first.

Lachlan Murdoch4:14

I have two younger brothers and I have an older half-sister who's older than me by 10 years. My youngest, James, is the 22-year-old and he has just started his own record company and is a very good graphic artist. The middle of us, Lachlan, who's 24, is in Australia right now working in newspapers. We work on Queensland and I do the best job I can in Brisbane. We'll see what happens from there.

Interviewer4:47

How are you finding it up there?

Lachlan Murdoch4:48

Oh, it's terrific. It's a great state and they've got me following the rugby league and drinking XXXX. So the indoctrination in Queensland is complete.

Narrator5:11

So we're off to see James Packer in his hotel suite in Vegas, and I'm pretty nervous to be honest. It's an important interview for us. James Packer and Lachlan Murdoch have had some real ups and downs over a relationship that's 30 years. You know, they see each other every couple of months and they are close. I think he can really shed some light on who Lachlan Murdoch is.

James Packer5:44

James, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too. Nice to meet you. I first met Lachlan in the mid-90s. Lachlan and I are born on the same day, September 8th, but I'm 4 years older than him. So I think I was probably 26 or 27 and he was probably 22 or 23. And Super League happened early on in our relationship.

Narrator6:17

Super League was really the blooding of Lachlan Murdoch, his first chance to prove himself to his dad. What was it all about?

James Packer6:27

Well, it was about rugby league being sort of ripe for a takeover, really. It was recognized as being a piece of content that was going to work in this new world of pay television. So News Corp went after it.

Narrator6:45

The proposal: an elite 12-team national competition to begin in 1996. On the one side, you had Foxtel, News Corp, the Murdochs. On the other side, you had Optus, the Australian Rugby League, and the Packers. The biggest shake-up in Australian sporting history is continuing tonight as the Australian Rugby League and News Limited fight for control of leading players.

James Packer7:12

Both Lachlan and I were involved in signing players. We'll be looking at grounds and facilities, housing for players, training facilities and equipment. So the whole gamut. It wasn't a lot of fun. It might have been fun for the players who were getting big checks.

Narrator7:37

Lachlan explained to me what they were hoping to achieve with Super League. I named a figure and then quite literally they came back with a much bigger figure. And I think I went in and signed a couple of days later.

Players loyal to the ARL will be given new financial incentives to stay. Money put up by Optus and the Packer families. Channel 9, true. Have you lost the players to the Super League? No comment.

James Packer8:18

There were two sides and they were at each other's throats for a while. Was the relationship strained at that point? Yeah, the relationship was strained. The relationship was strained.

Narrator8:31

Lachlan's in his early 20s. He's thrown into this civil war. How was he coping?

James Packer8:36

He was always incredibly calm. He was incredibly patient. He was always incredibly willing to listen. I'm like, don't you sweat? Well, we feel we need to press ahead because we're all about the original vision and the original concept is to press ahead.

I kind of remember if it was one year or two years that they ran the dual competition, but when it became obvious to everyone that it made sense for the codes to recombine, I think Lachlan and I probably played a constructive role in getting our respective fathers to the table to do that. What the fathers couldn't bring themselves to do, the sons did.

Narrator9:20

After a couple of years of sometimes bitter warring, the Murdochs and the Packers are friends again. It's obviously a win not only for Super League and for the supporters of rugby league in general and players, but also for Fox. There's no doubt that News was the winner of the Super League War. And I think that displays the fact that News is determined to succeed at all costs and invariably does so. You know, getting the competition back to being one competition was the right thing for rugby league, and Lachlan and I moved forward.

I first met Lachlan when he came from Queensland down to New South Wales to News Corporation. Certainly he was thrown in at the deep end and was given job after job after job, which he did pretty well. How was his rapid rise viewed? Everybody knew that having the surname Murdoch meant he was going to take over.

Peter Wilson10:32

I'm Peter Wilson, a former deputy editor in charge of the news gathering process on The Australian. I was asked to give a presentation on how do we use the internet and email to do better journalism. You know, this is the late 90s, it was all pretty new. And one of the bureau chiefs said, 'Peter, that's very good, you giving us all of these tips about how to use the internet, but what's the point when we don't have access to it?' And you know, I knew Lachlan was in the room, but I gave an honest answer where I said, 'Well, we can't just sit there and say, oh, I work for a company run by Luddites. It's up to us to try to get around that policy.'

Interviewer11:23

How did that go down with Lachlan?

Peter Wilson11:26

Not well. He was pretty unhappy. As he walked up to the stage, he said, 'You know, I'd like to say something given that Peter has just called me a Luddite.' So we had a bit of an argument.

Interviewer11:39

Were there any career repercussions for you?

Peter Wilson11:41

Well, I certainly wasn't sacked. I opted to go back on the road, but it became clear very quickly that I also wasn't going to be an editor ever. He was pushed off to the side, out of Lachlan's sight and out of decision-making on the paper. What does that tell you about Lachlan? Well, you know, he didn't brook a lot of dissent or argument, but also, you know, there's a bit of an insecurity in there. Like, why would he have cared?

Narrator12:16

Lachlan's known to never drop a grudge, and I've heard over and over again that if Lachlan decides somebody has crossed him, that person is off his list.

I first met Lachlan as part of the scene in the 90s in Sydney that was very much driven by fashion, film, the magazine industry. He had the spiky hair, the tattoo. He was groovy. He was cool. I quite liked him. He was a very engaging young man. There was a kind of softness about him. So there was a stronger influence of Anna. We ended up training together and we kind of became friends. Like, we'd grab meals and whatever and hang out. Yeah, he was just a mate.

Interviewer13:20

There were rumors about his sexuality at that time. What did you make of that?

Narrator13:24

That Lachlan was gay? I wish. I would have married him. God, I mean, he's this good-looking guy. You know, had a bit of a crush on him. Like, even now, he would see the funny side in that. You know, that's not an insult to him.

Sarah O'Hare attracted a lot of attention during the 90s because she was fast becoming one of Australia's supermodels. So tell me what it feels like to be the Wonderbra. It's so great, it's so much fun. But she never had airs and graces about it. She was always just a hard worker who did the job. How are you going in the supermodel stakes? Like, you know, in the pecking order, how's that going? This could be it.

Was that Lachlan? Yeah. How is he? Good. Things going well? Yeah, very good, thanks. Have I got any chance with you at all? No.

One of the things that I noted when Sarah started going out with Lachlan was how much Sarah reminded me of Anna. The beautiful blonde, down to earth, intelligent, discreet, charismatic. And I looked at the moment and went, 'Oh my goodness, Sarah, Anna Murdoch. Lachlan's marrying his mom.'

The Murdoch clan has gathered at the family's property in New South Wales for what's been labeled the wedding of the year, with eldest son Lachlan marrying supermodel Sarah O'Hare. People went nuts. You know, it was like a royal wedding.

Just before 12, father and son emerged for a quiet lunch at a restaurant in the nearby village of Yass.

Nervous. The bridal dance at the wedding came up. Sarah walked out and they started doing this dance, but it was a bit daggy and it got a bit awkward. You could almost feel like, 'This is not good.' Anyway, but then the lights went out and the lights come back on and this tango music come and they were like... It was amazing. It was the setup, right? It was this amazing, like, dance, this choreography that was incredible. Like, Lachlan lifting Sarah over and the dress is going over. It was like, they're great for each other.

Lachlan Murdoch16:00

What are the things that matter most to you at this stage of your life? My wife, Sarah. But I realize I'm married above myself, so you know, the more time I spend with her, the better it is for me, which is great.

Narrator16:17

The wife of media boss Rupert Murdoch has filed for divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences after more than 30 years of marriage. Australian-born media magnate Rupert Murdoch has tied the knot for the third time. Mr. Murdoch married 31-year-old television executive Wendy Deng aboard his luxury yacht in New York.

Lachlan Murdoch16:40

In some sense, we were quite honestly very surprised by it, but at the same time, we had our own relationships and understood that sometimes the world isn't perfect and that people can grow apart.

Narrator17:00

I really need to go and talk to David Lazer. This is the cover story, the interview, the world exclusive interview that he got with Anna Murdoch. The only time that she sat down with a reporter after the divorce from Rupert and gave a substantial interview. David Lazer is still getting approaches from journalists all around the world about this one interview that he did because she's never spoken again.

Hi, mate. David, nice to see you. Penny, it's a pleasure. Oh, and here's Anna. There she is. I thought she should probably be sitting between us when we talk.

David Lazer17:44

What Anna wanted to convey was that Rupert had lied about the breakup of the marriage. That Rupert was having a relationship with Wendy during their marriage, and that this was what led to their separation and then divorce. And that she didn't want to separate.

Interviewer18:04

What did she tell you about the succession question?

David Lazer18:07

I think she wanted to make sure that the children of Rupert and Wendy would not have the controlling shares in the company. That inheritance, that succession, belonged to hers and Rupert's children: Elizabeth, Lachlan, and James. Which is interesting in a sense, because that was the other huge concern she had, which was that the children, you know, Elizabeth, James, and Lachlan, were all going to get played against each other. And she worried about that because how do you follow Rupert's act? And what's that going to do to the relationship between those three?

Narrator19:03

When Lachlan comes to Australia, he's seen as a new generation, maybe even progressive. He's for the republic. He's against the anti-immigrant politician Pauline Hanson. But as he climbs up the management ranks at News Limited, he seems to go through something like the same trajectory politically that his father and even his grandfather had been, drifting ever more to the right.

There's a general thing among serious newspapers in the 90s to adopt an approach which was economically conservative and socially progressive. I think at some point Lachlan became a bit annoyed at the socially progressive part.

Interviewer19:47

Can I just ask Lachlan a question, please? People like Lachlan become more conservative as they get older and they don't notice that they've changed their views. What were your instructions to your father when he...

Narrator20:09

So Lachlan's in his 20s and he's dead keen to prove his business credentials to his father as much as anyone else. So when James Packer comes to him with a business idea, Lachlan's open to it.

James Packer20:23

What Super League demonstrated is if the families work together, we could, you know, we could make things happen together. They went off to see Rupert and persuaded him that News Corp should invest hundreds of millions of dollars in this new phone, mobile phone company called One.Tel.

Narrator20:42

One.Tel looked good, but it was an investment they'd come to regret.

With Packer and Murdoch owning a 41% stake in One.Tel, so tell your friends about One.Tel, many individual investors bought in.

Jeff Phillips21:11

Good morning, Jeff. Oh, Penny, yeah. How are you? Good. Can I come in? Yeah, come in. Yeah, come in. My name's Jeff Phillips and I was the biggest One.Tel dealer in Adelaide in 1999, 2000. Rupert Murdoch was one of my heroes. Yeah. What are we looking at? With people like that and their ability to do deals, one had to be a winner.

Narrator21:42

One.Tel reported a loss of $132 million for the 6 months to December.

Jeff Phillips21:50

You know, I really don't want another lawsuit, but you know, it wasn't meant to end like it ended.

Narrator21:59

The end for One.Tel came not with a bang but a whimper. An administrator has been called into One.Tel as directors James Packer and Lachlan Murdoch...

James Packer22:08

I was telling Lachlan that we weren't going to run out of money, and we did run out of money. And I fucked up. I fucked up.

Narrator22:16

Lachlan Murdoch questioned over his involvement in the collapse of One.Tel. Are you confident that you fulfilled your duties as a director of One.Tel, Mr. Murdoch? Absolutely, without a doubt. Would you have done anything differently? Insight's a beautiful thing. It's hard to say. They abused my trust. They took their eye off the ball.

Jeff Phillips22:43

The News Corporation AGM was held in Adelaide, and I went up to Lachlan and I got closer to his face and I said to him, 'Where's my fucking money?' Oh, he looked back. He said, 'Oh, our family lost heaps of money, heaps of money in that company.' I said, 'Mate, you could afford it. I couldn't.' Good luck.

Narrator23:10

The Murdoch family are close and it's always very supportive. Mistakes are made and as a family they come together and move on past it.

James Packer23:27

And I had a breakdown. Lachlan was incredibly kind to me. One of the things that made me love Lachlan was One.Tel went broke at the end of May 2001, and September 8, our birthday, 2001, was Lachlan's 30th birthday. So Lachlan's giving a speech and in the middle of the speech he says that I'm there and it's my birthday and he wants to wish me happy birthday. And it was one of the most moving things that's ever happened to me in my life. Lachlan was incredibly loyal to me. He saw that I was hurting and that's something that I'll never forget.

Narrator24:20

Tonight, red across the boards. World markets bleed as the dooms... When the tech wreck happened around 2000, it was scary times. I was on the board of directors of realestate.com.au. We're running out of cash and we had to raise funds to stay alive. So I called Lachlan Murdoch. One.Tel had just happened, but he didn't hesitate. He just came back and he just secured it in a 24-hour period. When you look at the relatively small amount of money they invested, 3 million, and you look at the current value of the business, it's been an extraordinary investment for Lachlan.

REA is the best media deal ever done in Australia. Our family company, we had 10% of REA. And so Lachlan said, 'You know, we'd like to buy your 10%.' I can't remember, it was probably 6 months or a year after One.Tel. I wanted to be helpful because One.Tel had been so bad. But let me be very, very, very clear about one thing: I never thought that 10% stake that he bought from me for $10 million would be worth $22 billion. And I do feel less guilty about One.Tel because of what happened with REA.

Holt Street, Surry Hills. This is the nerve center of the Murdoch media in Australia. I used to work here actually 20 years ago. At the turn of the century, Lachlan was at a crossroads. He was happy running News Limited here, but he knew that if he wanted to continue to rise up the ranks and eventually take over the Murdoch media and be the successor, he would have to be where the money and the power was, and that was New York.

Greg, hey, Penny, how are you? Thanks for coming. Absolutely, nice to meet you. How you doing? So Lachlan returns to the United States in late 2000. He's responsible for the New York Post as well as the Fox television stations. What did you make of him?

There's a saying in journalism, you have ink in your veins. And I think Rupert Murdoch has ink in his veins. I didn't see quite the same from Lachlan. He didn't have the same engagement with the newsroom. Okay, so what happened when Lachlan was made the publisher? Well, one of the most important things that he did is he brought in Col Allen to be the editor-in-chief of the New York Post. Lachlan gave him space and he ran it the way he wanted to. And then all of a sudden a bloodbath began in the newsroom and it was a scary time to be a senior editor, as I was. You know, I pretty much just thought I should just pack up my things and go.

Oh my God. It was very shortly after that that the 9/11 attacks occurred. There was no time for firing or hiring or anything like that. It was just all hands on deck.

When Lachlan came to New York, Rupert threw him in the deep end. He was going to have to prove himself against real sharks, and there was no bigger shark in Rupert Murdoch's stable than Roger Ailes, who is incredibly successful running Fox News. Just a week after September the 11th, an already rattled America was shaken by a major bioterrorist attack. The New York Post was sent an envelope with anthrax in it. Lachlan decides we want to keep everybody calm. We don't really know if this is real. Is it a hoax? Let's get to the bottom of it. Roger Ailes, on the other hand, rushes into his newsroom shouting, 'We're under attack! We're under attack!' and gets his people to start reporting it right away. Lachlan sees this and he runs down to the Fox newsroom and in front of Ailes' troops tells Roger to calm down. Ailes bites his tongue, nods along, but is seething. The next day, Ailes demands a meeting with Rupert Murdoch, who immediately apologizes. Rupert has backed Roger over Lachlan, and it's the beginning of a devolution in his relationship with his father.

Rupert Murdoch29:40

You would like to have a member of the family succeed you, right? Yeah, I think that's a natural. Either sons or daughters, you'd like to have. They've got to prove themselves too. So far, they're showing great promise. And Lachlan here on my left is supervising something like 60% of last year's huge operating profit. So you know, they're starting well. Let's see.

Interviewer30:06

Have your dad ever had this conversation with you? Someday you'll run this company?

Lachlan Murdoch30:11

Honestly, not. I think that what he does and what he does with all his executives is throw them in the deep end. I'm not a psychiatrist, as you know, but is part of this have some psychological element of proving to Dad how good I am? It's not necessarily wanting to work in the company to impress my father or anyone else, but it's just saying you want to do the best you can do.

Narrator30:36

By 2005, Lachlan had lost a number of battles with his father's top executives. Roger Ailes had gone over Lachlan's head to talk to Rupert. And Rupert said something that got back to Lachlan, and that was, 'Don't worry about the boy.' Lachlan decided he's out. Not only is he out of the company, he's out of the country. He flew back to Australia to set out on his own. Once considered first among equals, today 33-year-old Lachlan Murdoch is no longer heir apparent to the $70 billion News Corporation empire.

Interviewer31:22

Did that decision cause you great pain?

Lachlan Murdoch31:26

Yeah, absolutely.

Narrator31:30

The day that Lachlan announced that he was leaving News Corporation, I was actually visiting his father at Fox Studios in Los Angeles. It was quite an emotional little get-together. And I said to Rupert, I said, 'He'll be back. He'll be back when you need him.'

He was the heir apparent, not finally. No, I mean, his brother is writing a fantastic record as the chief executive of Sky. But yes, I would think the betting was on Lachlan because he had this, and still has, this really intense love of newspapers. And he went back to Australia too. But he also has a, if it's easy to understand, I guess, but very intense love of Australia.

For a time, Lachlan was really frozen out in Australia. Rupert made it clear to his top deputies in Australia, 'I don't even want him using an office in our buildings.' You know, it was a rough time. Lachlan started a company and did a fantastic deal on buying two radio stations. A fantastic deal. Lachlan Murdoch has emerged as a major media player in his own right in Australia. He took the radio station Nova and made it into a $500 million company. So he didn't need the News Limited tag to be successful. He did it on his own. I have the feeling that it was very important to Lachlan that he was seen as being successful, that his father saw him as a success.

Lachlan Murdoch and James Packer may have lost close to a billion dollars in the One.Tel venture 9 years ago, but their friendship has survived. Now the two are working towards a deal which could see Lachlan Murdoch take a half share in James Packer's major shareholding in Ten Network Holdings.

James Packer33:54

Channel 10, go. Pardon me. Beginnings for Channel 10 today? I suppose so. I blame myself for One.Tel, but 10, you know, I think we were equally at fault. We both should have been smarter than we were.

Interviewer34:10

Can I just ask you, what can you give some idea what you hope to achieve?

Narrator34:14

I first got to know Lachlan when he employed me to act as one of the hosts on a new breakfast show that Network 10 was starting. Oh, is it? Yep, yep. That the bosom should look like the buttock. I mean, I imagine that what Lachlan was seeing in me was a host who would sit there and be unpredictable. If you're stretched and you're struggling, you don't have the room yet, you're not going to say yes to a refugee to come around and live in the linen cupboard. Oh, that's a good idea. You'd want to get the linen out, wouldn't you? Oh, these sheets are dirty. Paul, you just always have to take one step too far.

Disaster is a word you hear repeatedly when discussing Ten Network Holdings. 2012 has been a year of dire ratings and dramatic job cuts. It's a network increasingly known for its passing parade of new programming flops. I've decided I would dedicate the last program to the viewers. There weren't many of you. There was crisis management at all levels of 10 when I was there. The tide is going out for free-to-air television, and it was going out very, very rapidly for Network 10.

James Packer35:30

I envisaged that it could get back to being the most profitable network, and I think Lachlan probably thought that was possible as well. And we were both wrong. And you know what we should have both done is just buy more REA shares.

Narrator35:54

James at that point had taken over the pole position to succeed Rupert. But James was never Rupert's cup of tea. James was more moderate, perhaps even liberal in some respects. Rupert really wanted Lachlan, who got the business and had the populist right-wing sensibility.

Lachlan's way back into the company comes through an unexpected door, and that is when the family newspapers got into trouble in London through a hacking scandal. Truth has been in short supply as the hacking scandal has assumed a life of its own outside the control even of the Murdochs. The phone hacking scandal was the discovery that members of staff at the News of the World had been listening in to mobile phone messages in order to get stories. When it was just the rich and famous being hacked, there was interest but not anger. All that has changed with allegations the practice was widespread and included murder victims Milly Dowler and Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells.

James Murdoch37:19

Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. And first of all, I would like to say as well just how sorry I am and how sorry we are to particularly the victims of illegal voicemail interceptions and to their families. As for my...

Interviewer37:34

Before you get to that, I would just like to say one sentence. This is the most humble day of my life. Thank you.

Narrator37:44

James Murdoch's reputation was completely annihilated. You must be the first mafia boss in history who didn't know he was running a criminal enterprise. Mr. Watson, please, I think that's an appropriate... I mean, people have interpreted your comments about profit without purpose. I think it's a truism.

Elizabeth Murdoch was quoted in public often being critical of what had happened. What do you think about how James and your father ultimately handled the crisis as it unfolded?

Lachlan Murdoch38:15

I don't think anybody would say that it was textbook perfect. I think it split the family. Rupert kind of been happy that James had failed to handle it. The most important thing it did was it brought back the possibility, which had previously receded, of Lachlan Murdoch returning to a position of power within the organization.

Narrator38:46

As job offers go, it doesn't get much bigger than this. Goodbye Network 10 Australia and hello New York, as Lachlan Murdoch joins his father to become co-chair of News Corp and 21st Century Fox. Why did Lachlan go back? Because his father needed him. That's what family's all about.

I hope I don't say the wrong thing here. I think sometimes Lachlan is embarrassed by Fox News. I don't agree with a lot of what News Corp and Fox News put out. American democracy really is on the line. Lachlan Murdoch failed in 2020. He allowed the big lie to take root. I think underestimating Lachlan's a mistake. I'm Tim Lannan.

Lachlan Murdoch40:26

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