Sun sets at last on Murdoch the mogul

At 92 he hands over to son

- CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN

BILLIONAIRE Rupert Murdoch is finally stepping down as chairman of the media empire he created.

The 92-year-old is handing the reins of News Corp, owners of The Sun and The Times, to elder son Lachlan.

Lachlan, 52, also becomes chairman of Murdoch's giant US Fox Corporation.

There was no immediate word on why the move was announced yesterday - but it came in the week biographer Michael Wolff published a book, The End of Fox News, speculating on what will happen when the four-timeswed patriarch is gone.

Murdoch and his family, reputedly worth £15.5billion, are said to be the model for the HBO hit Succession, starring Brian Cox and Jeremy Strong, about sibling rivalry in the fight to inherit a sprawling media empire.