Lachlan Murdoch

Lachlan Murdoch

Murdoch in May 2013
Born Lachlan Keith Murdoch
(1971-09-08) 8 September 1971
London, England, United Kingdom
Nationality British / Australian
Alma mater Princeton University
Occupation Businessman
Spouse(s) Sarah Murdoch (m. 1999)
Children
  • Kalan (b. 2004);
  • Aidan (b. 2006);
  • Aerin (b. 2010)
Parent(s)
Relatives

Lachlan Keith Murdoch (/ˈlɒklən ˈmɜːrdɒk/;[1] born 8 September 1971) is an Australian media heir and businessman. He is currently the Executive Chairman of Nova Entertainment, Executive Co-Chairman of News Corp and 21st Century Fox, the founder of Australian investment company Illyria Pty Ltd, and a director of Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art.

Early life and education

Lachlan Murdoch was born on 8 September 1971 in London, England, in the United Kingdom. He is the eldest son of Australian-American media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and his second wife, Scottish journalist and author Anna Murdoch Mann. He was raised in a wealthy New York City neighbourhood where his father owned the New York Post. He received his education at the exclusive Aspen Country Day School in Aspen, Colorado (U.S.), Trinity School in New York City as well as at the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts (U.S.). He graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University.

Career

News Corp executive

In 1989, Rupert Murdoch brought Lachlan Murdoch, then 18 years old, to Australia while on business, to have Lachlan trained for three months at the Daily Mirror. At the age of 22, Murdoch was appointed general manager of Queensland Newspapers, the publisher of Brisbane's Courier-Mail. One year later, he became publisher of Australia's first national paper, The Australian. In 1995 he was appointed Deputy CEO of News Limited, Executive Director of News Corporation in 1996, Deputy Chief Operating Officer in 2000; he was made Senior Executive Vice President from 1999 to 2000, and has been Chairman of STAR since 1995.

Encouraged to invest in One.Tel by his friend Australian businessman James Packer, the son of television network owner Kerry Packer, Murdoch was extensively criticised for encouraging News Corporation's multi-hundred million-dollar investment in the start-up telecommunications company.[2] In April 2014, Murdoch and Packer agreed to an A$40 million settlement over the failure of One.Tel. The settlement was approved by the Supreme Court of New South Wales on 17 April 2014, with A$14.93 million to be paid by the Packer family's Consolidated Press Holdings, A$11.77 million to be paid by Packer's Crown Resorts and A$13.3 million to be paid by News Corp.[3]

Murdoch led an initial $10.75 million investment, of which only $2.25 million was in cash, in REA Group, and subsequently championed the retention of the investment over the objections of those who wished to sell it. The company later emerged as Australia's market leader in online real estate advertising, and in 2014 was assessed as worth more than $3.6 billion to News Corp.[4] With a personal interest in Australian rugby league, on 30 March 1995 Murdoch was at the first Super League meeting in the Atanaskovic Hartnell offices in Sydney. He and former Brisbane Broncos chief John Ribot signed up leading Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players on documents which were not legally effective. Murdoch was the Broncos' number one ticket holder.[5][6][7] For the year 2001, Murdoch earned a salary of A$2.59 million.[8] In June 2005, Murdoch received the Press & Outdoor Advertising "Media Person of The Year" award in Cannes.[9] Murdoch is one of the founding patrons (along with Anthony Pratt, Peter Lowy and Lisa Fox) of an organisation called "Advance", formerly known as the Young Australian Professionals in America.[10]

In July 2005, the 33-year-old Murdoch abruptly resigned as an executive at the News Corp. The unexplained departure apparently dashed News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch's hopes that his son would one day take over as CEO of the global media empire, which includes the Twentieth Century Fox movie studio, the Fox television network, several satellite broadcasters, and newspapers in Britain, Australia, and the United States. Roger Ailes, the chairman of Fox News Channel, was named chairman of News Corp's group of television stations to succeed Murdoch junior. Media speculated that his brother, James Murdoch, the chief executive of UK satellite TV company BSkyB may succeed Rupert Murdoch.[11][12][13][14][15] During his time as an executive at News Corp, Murdoch was the Deputy Chief Operating Officer of News Corporation (now 21st Century Fox). He had oversight of HarperCollins and the company's lines of business in Australia, including REA. He also served on the Board of Foxtel and as Chairman of Fox Television stations and was the publisher of the New York Post.[16] He was appointed to the News Corp board in 1996.[11]

Private investment activities

On leaving News Corp with a two–year non–compete agreement,[17] Murdoch founded an Australian private investment company, Illyria Pty Ltd.,[18] and developed an eclectic mix of investments, with stakes in the Indian cricket team Rajasthan Royals, online DVD rental company Quickflix, toy marketer Funtastic and digital media company Destra.[17] On 21 January 2008, Murdoch and James Packer announced that their companies, Illyria and Consolidated Press Holdings would seek to privatise the publicly-listed Consolidated Media Holdings. It was expected that the proposed A$3.3 billion deal would deliver Murdoch and Packer with private stakes in Foxtel, Fox Sports, and PBL Media, with the latter owning the Nine Network and ACP Magazines.[17][19] Packer eventually decided to sell down his stake in media companies in a series of transactions between 2006 and 2008,[20][21] and the deal with Murdoch collapsed.

In November 2009, Murdoch acquired 50% of Nova Entertainment via Illyria and he became Chairman. In September 2012 Illyria acquired the balance of shares it did not own.[17][22]

In 2010, Packer purchased an 18% stake in Network Ten, quickly offloading half to Murdoch. Both Packer and Murdoch joined the Ten board.[23] In February 2011, Murdoch was appointed acting CEO of Ten Network Holdings after the company's board terminated the contract of CEO Grant Blackley.[24] The following month Packer unexpectedly resigned from the board.[25][26] In February 2012, the Ten board appointed Murdoch non-executive chairman of Ten Network Holdings.[27] Although Ten was already in some financial difficulties before Murdoch became CEO, by late 2012, on paper Illria had lost A$110 million of the original A$150 million invested since 2010. The share price had fallen by about 80% and network profits had dropped by over half. In an attempt to control costs, Ten had reduced employment numbers by 160 people, and the problems were mainly attributed to falling advertising revenues and restructuring at the network. Ten purchased, at three times its original cost,[28] the Australian rights for MasterChef from the Australian subsidiary of the Shine Group, itself a subsidiary of the News Corp–owned 21st Century Fox.

Return to the family fold

On 26 March 2014 Murdoch was appointed as non-executive Co-Chairman of News Corp. and 21st Century Fox Inc. in a move that was seen as succession planning for the media empire.[29][30][31][32][33][34] Murdoch stood aside as Chairman and a Director of Ten Network Holdings.[35]

Personal life

Murdoch married British-born Australian model/actress Sarah O'Hare in 1999. They have two sons, Kalan Alexander, born on 9 November 2004, and Aidan Patrick, born on 6 May 2006;[36] and one daughter, Aerin Elisabeth, named for his sister and grandmother, born on 12 April 2010.[37]

Prior to 2003, the Murdochs owned "Berthong", a house in Elizabeth Bay, Sydney, sold to Russell Crowe in 2003.[38] In November 2009, Murdoch purchased "Le Manoir", a 4,097-square-metre (44,100 sq ft) mansion in Bellevue Hill for $23 million; and purchased an adjoining 1,049-square-metre (11,290 sq ft) property two years later.[39][40]

Ancestry

See also

References

  1. ↑ Wells, John C. (2008), Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.), Longman, pp. 449 and 526, ISBN 9781405881180 According to this source, the first name is also pronounced /ˈlæklən/ in the UK.
  2. ↑ Luckhurst, Tim (31 July 2005). "So where does Rupert Murdoch go from here?". The Independent on Sunday. Retrieved 10 April 2010.
  3. ↑ Butler, Ben (17 April 2014). "Court approves $40m One.Tel settlement". The Age. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  4. ↑ "How Lachlan Murdoch turned $10 million into more than $3 billion". Big News Network. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  5. ↑ Chenoweth, Neil (5 August 2005). "Lachlan's legacy: $560m lost on Super League". The Australian Financial Review (South Sydney Rabbitohs). Archived from the original on 14 March 2006. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  6. ↑ Bronco Magazine 2002
  7. ↑ Masters, Roy (13 August 2014). "Brisbane Broncos cross the line in political divide". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  8. ↑ Mayne, Stephen (7 October 2001). "Rappers, Fulon Gong and lots of questions". Crikey. Archived from the original on 26 May 2005. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  9. ↑ "Lachlan Murdoch heckled in Cannes". The Sydney Morning Herald. 23 June 2005. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  10. ↑ Allen, Ken (18 November 2005). 2005 Advance Benefit Dinner (PDF) (Speech). Cipriani, Wall Street, New York City: Australian Consul General New York. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 August 2006. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  11. 1 2 Tryhorn, Chris (29 July 2005). "Lachlan Murdoch resigns from News Corp". The Guardian (Australia). Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  12. ↑ Fishman, Steve (19 September 2005). "The Boy Who Wouldn't Be King". New York Magazine. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  13. ↑ Porter, Jeni (14 September 2005). "Why Lachlan Murdoch quit". The Age. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  14. ↑ Gibson, Owen; Milmo, Dan (1 August 2005). "End of the line". The Guardian (Australia). Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  15. ↑ Lieberman, David; Petrecca, Laura (29 July 2005). "Murdoch's oldest son leaves empire". USA Today. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  16. ↑ "Lachlan Murdoch". Our leadership. News Corp. 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  17. 1 2 3 4 Steffens, Miriam (19 November 2011). "Building another Murdoch empire". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  18. ↑ "Company Overview of Illyria Pty, Ltd.". Bloomberg Business (Bloomberg). 2005. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  19. ↑ "Murdoch junior to seize control of old Packer empire". Scopical.com.au. 21 January 2008. Retrieved 17 March 2008.
  20. ↑ Williams, Pamela (22 July 2013). Killing Fairfax: Packer, Murdoch & The Ultimate Revenge. Harper Collins. pp. 140, 150, 159–160, 213, 222. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  21. ↑ James, Packer (13 September 2013). James Packer on building a new Sydney casino. Interview with Helia Ebrahimi. CNBC. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  22. ↑ "Lachlan Murdoch acquires other half of DMG Radio". MediaSpy. 2 September 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  23. ↑ "Packer, Murdoch accept seats on Ten board". ABC News (Australia). 9 November 2010. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
  24. ↑ Janda, Michael (23 February 2011). "Lachlan Murdoch appointed acting Ten CEO". ABC News (Australia).
  25. ↑ "James Packer quits Ten board". The Advertiser (Adelaide). 3 March 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  26. ↑ Magee, Antonia (2 March 2011). "James Packer, Lachlan Murdoch fall out over new Ten Network chief James Warburton". Herald Sun. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
  27. ↑ "Ten Appoints New Chairman" (PDF) (Press release). Ten Network Holdings. 10 February 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  28. ↑ Barry, Paul (15 November 2012). "Thanks to Lachlan, Ten ripe for the picking". Crikey. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
  29. ↑ Thomson, Amy (27 March 2014). "Murdoch Promotes Son Lachlan in Succession Plan for Empire". Bloomberg Business (Bloomberg). Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  30. ↑ Peers, Martin; Evans, Peter (26 March 2014). "Sons of Rupert Murdoch Get Expanded Roles". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  31. ↑ Chenoweth, Neil (29 March 2014). "Inside the Murdoch dynasty". The Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  32. ↑ Williams, Christopher (26 March 2014). "Rupert Murdoch's eldest son Lachlan takes co-chairman role in succession plan". The Telegraph (United Kingdom). Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  33. ↑ McNair, Brian (28 March 2014). "Lachlan Murdoch and News: the first-born son is ahead … for now". The Conversation. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  34. ↑ Mayne, Stephen (28 March 2014). "Lachlan Murdoch lured back to News Corp, but which office does he get?". SmartCompany. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  35. ↑ "Changes to Ten's Board of Directors" (PDF) (Press release). Ten Network Holdings. 26 March 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  36. ↑ "Murdochs welcome their second son". Herald Sun. 7 May 2006. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
  37. ↑ Bibby, Paul (13 April 2010). "New baby for Murdochs". The Age. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  38. ↑ Sams, Christine (1 June 2003). "On the move with Russell and Danielle". The Sun-Herald. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
  39. ↑ Chancellor, Jonathan (26 February 2011). "Murdochs buy next door to expand fiefdom". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  40. ↑ Thistleton, Rebecca; Hutchinson, Samantha (23 September 2013). "Murdochs begin $11.6m overhaul of Bellevue Hill mansion". The Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 11 March 2008.

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