Settlement cements Lachlan Murdoch's control of Fox and News Corp

The Murdoch family reached a settlement on Monday that ends a yearslong legal battle over control of the family trust and cements Lachlan Murdoch's control of the voting shares that govern News Corp. and Fox Corporation. Under the agreement, new trusts will be created that leave Lachlan as the sole voting controller of the remaining family-held interests, while his siblings Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch and James Murdoch will stop being beneficiaries of any trust holding shares in the two companies and will receive cash funded in part by the sale of millions of Class B shares previously held by the family trust.

Fox Corp. and News Corp. said the family terminated all litigation tied to efforts by the elder Rupert Murdoch to reassign control of the family’s shares to Lachlan, who already oversees both corporations. The companies disclosed that roughly 16.9 million shares of Fox Corporation Class B common stock and about 14.2 million shares of News Corp. Class B common stock held by the Murdoch Family Trust will be sold to fund the payouts. The transactions will reduce the family trust’s voting stakes to about 36.2 percent of Fox’s Class B common stock and roughly one-third...