Rupert Murdoch with his then-wife Anna Murdoch and their son Lachlan Murdoch at their home in New York, circa 1983. Peter Carrette Archive/Getty Images There was a time, just a few months ago, when the smart money was on Rupert Murdoch losing his grip on the media empire that he created. A failed effort to alter the family's irrevocable trust meant that the future of his two companies: News Corp. and Fox Corp., arguably the two most influential and powerful media giants in the U.S., were in question.