Fox Corporation chief Lachlan Murdoch has dropped his defamation proceedings against the publisher of online news outlet Crikey and several of its editors and executives.
Mr Murdoch sued Private Media in the Federal Court in August over an article published by Crikey, claiming it defamed him in referring to his family as "unindicted co-conspirators" in the US Capitol riots.
On Friday his lawyers filed a notice to discontinue the case.
It comes days after Fox settled a defamation case in the US brought by Dominion Voting Systems, for $1.17 billion.
In a statement today, Mr Murdoch's lawyer John Churchill said his client remained confident the court would "ultimately find in his favour" but no longer wished to allow Crikey to use the case to "facilitate a marketing campaign" to boost subscribers.
In response, Private Media's chief executive Will Hayward claimed victory, saying Mr Murdoch's decision amounted to a "substantial victory for legitimate public interest journalism".
"We stand by what we published last June, and everything we laid out in our defence to the court. The imputations drawn by Murdoch from that article were ridiculous."
Mr Hayward was named as a respondent in the case, along with Crikey's former editor-in-chief Peter Fray, political editor Bernard Keane — who wrote the article — and Private Media chairman Eric Beecher.
'This is a victory for free speech'
In its most recent defence, filed this month, Private Media alleged Mr Murdoch was "morally and ethically culpable" for the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
It claimed Fox News, under Mr Murdoch's management, "promoted and peddled [Donald] Trump's lie of the stolen election despite Lachlan Murdoch knowing it was false".
Mr Hayward said the publisher stood by the claims Mr Murdoch "and his father, had the power to stop the lies" and pointed to the outcome of the Dominion case.
"The fact is, Murdoch sued us, and then dropped his case.
"We are proud of our stand. We are proud to have exposed the hypocrisy and abuse of power of a media billionaire. This is a victory for free speech. We won."
Mr Murdoch's statement said Crikey had tried to introduce "thousands of pages of documents" unearthed during the Dominion case.
That case centred on allegations Fox News damaged Dominion's brand by spreading false claims of voter fraud after the 2020 US election.
"In that case, in the US state of Delaware, the trial judge ruled the events of January 6, 2021, in the US Capitol, were not relevant," Mr Churchill said.
"Further, the plaintiff Dominion Voting Systems made clear it would not argue that Fox News caused the events of January 6, and at no point did it ever argue that Mr Murdoch was personally responsible for the events of January 6.
"Yet this is what Crikey's article alleged and what Crikey is attempting to argue in Australia."
Private Media had maintained in court that the story was not defamatory, and that its contents were in the public interest.
Crikey had engaged public relations firm
The article was first published on June 29 and taken down the next day after the receipt of a concerns notice from Mr Murdoch.
Mr Murdoch's lawyers claimed in court that Private Media and its "guiding minds" then contrived to use the concerns notice to "generate subscriptions to Crikey and thus income to Private Media under the guise of defending public interest journalism".
At a hearing in January, the court heard Private Media engaged a public relations firm, Populares, after it received Mr Murdoch's legal letter.
The publisher's lawyer Michael Bradley introduced Private Media to Populares saying Crikey was "about to get itself immersed in a big fight and is looking for expert help".
The court heard emails from July and August also showed Mr Fray, Mr Beecher and Mr Hayward discussing ideas to roll out a "Lachlan Murdoch campaign".
The original article was republished on August 15, and shared on Crikey's social media.
Private Media then took out a full-page ad in the New York Times on August 22 which invited Mr Murdoch to sue, while Crikey published several related articles.
Mr Murdoch launched his lawsuit on August 23.
Barrister Sue Chrysanthou, acting for Mr Murdoch, told the court Crikey sold 5,000 new subscriptions after the lawsuit was filed - a "windfall of $500,000" - at a discounted "Lachlan Murdoch rate".
Trial dates were set for both March and September this year, but both had already been vacated as the case evolved.
It is unclear whether the matter might return to court for a hearing over costs.
