ruler

Two days after solidifying control of his family’s empire, Fox Corp. Chief Executive Lachlan Murdoch touted the strength and newfound stability of their media business.

Murdoch spoke briefly Wednesday at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference, a fireside chat cut short because of Murdoch’s late arrival in San Francisco thanks to a weather delay. Instead of speaking for about 40 minutes, Murdoch appeared for just about 10 minutes.

The session followed this week’s $3.3-billion settlement of the Murdochs’ bitter succession feud, which handed Lachlan the keys to the kingdom. Rupert Murdoch’s trust will be replaced with new ones that benefit his six children. In the coming weeks, the family’s controlling News Corp. and Fox shares will pass from Rupert to Lachlan, sealing the scion’s status as one of the world’s most influential moguls.

The 54-year-old executive already was overseeing Fox News, the Fox broadcast network and the free video service Tubi as CEO of Fox since 2019. As chairman of News Corp., Lachlan Murdoch is perched atop the publishing firm that includes the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, the Times of London, HarperCollins publishing house and newspapers in his family’s native Australia. Now his inheritance and legal standing is etched through 2050.

“It’s great news for investors,” Murdoch said of the family settlement. “It gives us a clarity about our strategy going forward — and shows that our strategy will be consistent.”

The settlement was reached after months of negotiations among representatives of Rupert Murdoch’s children. Three of his offspring — Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch and James Murdoch — had tried to block the elder Murdoch’s plan to consolidate Lachlan’s power — sending the dispute to a Nevada probate court.

Prudence, Elisabeth and James agreed to surrender their shares and abandon any future involvement in the companies in exchange for $1.1 billion apiece.

Analysts said they don’t expect major changes at Fox, particularly at Fox News, which will continue its conservative drumbeat and support of President Trump.

“We expect the strategy will likely stay the course,” Robert Fishman, a MoffettNathanson research analyst, wrote in a report. “Fox’s emphasis on its differentiated linear assets — namely sports and Fox News — should continue while at the same time balance a streaming push with its recently-launched Fox One and rapidly growing Tubi.”

During the Goldman Sachs conference, Murdoch sounded an upbeat note about last month’s launch of its latest streaming service, Fox One, which delivers news and sports to consumers.

“I don’t want to read too much into our success and our data of the last few weeks but suffice to say its take-up [rate] has exceeded our expectations,” Murdoch said.

Fox One will be part of a streaming bundle with ESPN next month. “We think it’ll be … the essential sports bundle for sports fans in America,” Murdoch said.

Murdoch has been running Fox since 2019 after Rupert Murdoch sold the bulk of the company’s entertainment assets to the Walt Disney Co., in a $71-billion deal which provided Murdoch’s children with a payout of about $2 billion each. At the time, Rupert Murdoch wanted to simplify his company and pave the succession path for Lachlan.

Murdoch noted that resolving the family control issue carried other side benefits, including smoothing the application process for state gaming licenses for the online sports wagering business, FanDuel. Fox has options to take a minority stake in that enterprise.

Rupert Murdoch sought to cement Lachlan’s control as a way to preserve the conservative leanings of his media empire after he is gone.

The 94-year-old patriarch has long viewed Lachlan as his natural heir, in part because his oldest son is the most ideologically in sync with him.

Rupert had become increasingly troubled by the more liberal attitudes of three of his older children, particularly James, who has been outspoken in his disdain of Fox News.

Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch at the 2018 Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.

(Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Fox shares have fallen about 8% since Monday when the settlement was announced, after the company said the Murdochs planned to price the shares they would sell at $54.25. Shares were trading at $52 on Wednesday.

French Montana is reportedly engaged to Mahra Maktoum — full name with title, Sheikha Mahra bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum — and the couple has apparently managed to keep the romance news off the radar for even longer than Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift did.

The couple got engaged in June during Paris Fashion Week, TMZ said Wednesday, citing a publicist for the rapper. They didn’t even go public as a couple until this summer in Paris. He’s 40 and walked the runway very slowly in the 3.Paradis spring/summer 2026 show; she’s 31 and the daughter of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai.

People reported that there’s little to report at this point, quoting a news release that stated, “Representatives confirm that while wedding plans are underway, specific dates and arrangements are still being finalized by both families, who are reportedly excited and supportive.”

Montana, who was born Karim Kharbouch and raised in Morocco until his family moved to the United States when he was a tween, previously dated reality TV royalty: He and Khloé Kardashian connected in 2014, dated for a bit, then split up and have remained friends over the years.

This will be a second marriage for both parties. Maktoum and her first husband, UAE businessman Sheikh Mana bin Mohammed bin Rashid bin Mana Al Maktoum, split in 2024 and have a young daughter together.

Montana and his first wife, entrepreneur Nadeen Palmer, a.k.a. Deen Kharbouch, had a son together in 2010 and separated in 2012 after five years as husband and wife; their divorce was finalized by a court in 2014.

About 350 French soldiers are leaving Senegal, marking the end of a departure process that began in March.

France has officially handed over its two remaining military bases in Senegal, leaving the onetime colonial power with no permanent presence in either West or Central Africa.

France returned Camp Geille, its largest base in Senegal, and its airfield at Dakar’s airport in a ceremony on Thursday attended by top French and Senegalese officials, including Senegalese Chief of the General Staff Mbaye Cisse and General Pascal Ianni, the head of the French forces in Africa.

The pullout ends the French army’s 65-year presence in Senegal and comes after similar withdrawals across the continent as former colonies increasingly turn their backs on the nation that once ruled them.

France’s withdrawal from Senegal also comes as the Sahel region faces a growing conflict. The violence across Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger is threatening Gulf of Guinea nations to the south.

About 350 French soldiers, who had primarily been tasked with conducting joint operations with the Senegalese army, are now leaving the country, marking the end of a departure process that began in March.

General Cisse said the handover marked “an important turning point in the rich and long military journey of our two countries”.

France is “reinventing partnerships in a dynamic Africa”, Ianni said. “We are turning a page in the military history of our two countries, … a very special relationship and one essential for the countries of the region.”

After storming to victory in elections last year by promising dramatic change, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye demanded France withdraw its soldiers by 2025.

However, unlike the leaders of other former French colonies such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which are run by military governments, Faye has insisted that Senegal will keep working with Paris.

After gaining independence in 1960, Senegal became one of France’s staunchest African allies, playing host to French troops throughout its history.

Faye has also urged France to apologise for colonial atrocities, including the massacre on December 1, 1944, of dozens of African troops who had fought for France in World War II.

With governments across Africa increasingly questioning France’s military presence, Paris has closed or reduced the numbers of its soldiers at bases across its former empire.

In February, France handed back its sole remaining base in Ivory Coast, ending decades of French presence there.

The month before, France turned over the Kossei base in Chad, its last military foothold in the Sahel region.

Coups in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali from 2020 to 2023 have swept military strongmen to power. Their governments have collectively ejected 4,300 French soldiers. All three countries have cut ties with France and turned to Russia instead for help in fighting the Sahel’s decade-long unrest.

The Central African Republic, also a former French colony to which the Kremlin has sent mercenaries, has likewise demanded a French pullout.

Meanwhile, the French army has turned its base in Gabon into a camp shared with its Central African host.

Only the tiny Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti will be home to a permanent French army base after Thursday’s withdrawal. France intends to make that base with about 1,500 people its military headquarters for Africa.