Murdoch family reaches agreement on who will lead Fox News and media empire

The Murdoch family, owners of Fox News, have reached a settlement to end their long-running battle for control of their media empire.

Lachlan Murdoch is poised to take control of his father's media assets as part of a deal announced Monday between the patriarch and his children. Lachlan will control all votes in a new trust that will hold significant stakes in Fox Corp. and News Corp. once the deal is completed.

The transaction is valued at approximately $3.3 billion, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The Murdoch trust, which currently holds about 40% of the voting stakes in Fox and Wall Street Journal parent News Corp, was initially designed to give each of his four eldest children an equal voting stake.

As part of the agreement announced Monday, Rupert Murdoch's children, James, Elisabeth, and Prudence, will relinquish their claims to the existing trust. Instead, they will receive new trusts funded in part by the sale of some of the existing trust's Fox and News Corp shares.

The three children will also be subject to a long-term agreement that prevents them from buying shares in the companies.

(with Dow Jones Newswires)