(Reuters) -Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch said on Wednesday the settlement over the Murdoch Family Trust is “great news for investors” and will provide clarity and continuity to the company’s strategy, in his first public remarks since the agreement.
The deal, announced on Monday, cemented the control of Rupert Murdoch’s politically conservative son over the media empire that includes Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, ending a protracted succession battle.
“It gives us a clarity about our strategy going forward. It shows that our strategy will be consistent. It’s clear and it’s very sustainable,” Murdoch told investors at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference.
The deal, reached after a Nevada court last year rejected an attempt to amend the family trust, provides clarity on leadership and preserves the group’s conservative tilt.
Rupert’s children James Murdoch, Elisabeth Murdoch and Prudence MacLeod have agreed to sell their holdings in both Fox and News Corp over six months. They will receive $1.1 billion each under the deal, a source told Reuters earlier this week.
Some of that will come from a sale of News Corp and Fox shares at a roughly 4.5% discount that raised $1.37 billion.
A new trust benefiting Lachlan and his younger siblings Grace and Chloe Murdoch will hold 36% of Fox’s Class B shares and 33% of News Corp’s Class B shares.
Lachlan added that Fox’s strategy was set in 2019, when the company sold the majority of its entertainment assets to Disney, and that the strategy has proven successful.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
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