Fortune reached out to Blair Effron, a partner at Centerview Partners, which has advised the Murdoch family on investment decisions. He said, “As a friend of James, I’ll pass on speaking.”  A representative for James Murdoch had no comment at press time.

The financials are based on details of James’ holdings found in public records. 

A 2023 court case brought by a Tesla shareholder challenging Musk’s controversial $56 billion compensation package revealed that James had bought three separate tranches of stock in SpaceX. Two of those tranches, worth $50 million each, were acquired in 2019 and 2020 via a private investment firm, thought to be Murdoch’s Lupa Systems, where he is the primary beneficiary, along with staff and partners. He separately bought another $20 million as a personal investment in 2019. Those stakes together are now estimated to be worth between $6.573 billion and $7.44 billion, according to the Pitchbook estimate. 

While the SpaceX S-1 document attached to its public offering, doesn’t mention James Murdoch, it details stock awards to its chief financial officer, Bret Johnsen, that have an expiration date of 2030 and value the stock at $4.40—numbers that give clues as to the value of owned by shareholders before the IPO.

There are, however, a series of caveats. James Murdoch could have sold those SpaceX shares along the way, and there have been several dilutions. The company approved a five-to-one stock split in May, for instance. The precise dates of the stock acquisitions are not publicly known, but media industry executives have been exchanging rumors about the junior Murdoch’s astonishing potential windfall. 

The former chief executive of 21st Century Fox was already a multi-billionaire. He stepped down from Fox after the majority of its assets were sold in a $71.3 billion deal with Disney in 2019, garnering him $2.2 billion in proceeds. 

James’ split with his father became final when the elder Murdoch rejected him in favor of his brother Lachlan to succeed Rupert atop News Corp.

Last year, a Nevada probate court examined a move by Rupert and his eldest son Lachlan Murdoch to change a longstanding Murdoch Family Trust, which had been designed to protect the financial interests of all six Murdoch children. A probate commissioner ruled against the change that would have stripped voting rights from James and his sisters Liz and Prue. After an appeal, the parties came to an agreement that resulted in each of the three siblings receiving a $1.1 billion payout. The agreement stipulated that Murdoch children shed their stock in News Corp and Fox. 

The private fight spilled out into public view after the New York Times and The Atlantic revealed the full extent of the animosity between James Murdoch and his father. The two no longer speak. The Atlantic published an interview with James, who believed his father was feeding questions to a lawyer. One of the questions posed was, “Have you ever done anything successful on your own?” 

James first met Musk in the late nineties, according to the court filings in the shareholder fight. At that time, Musk was building Zip2, an online guide to cities and businesses for newspapers while James was running digital operations at what was then known simply as News Corp, before Fox split off.  The two men reconnected after James ordered an electric Tesla Roadster in the middle of the 2000s. They continued to meet up and went on family vacations to Israel, Mexico, and the Bahamas. After one of the trips, Musk talked to his brother Kimbal and later added James Murdoch to the Tesla board, according to an account in the court documents from the now-resolved compensation battle. 

James Murdoch has profited handsomely from his Tesla shares, which he holds within JRM Rev Trust and another financial entity called Seven Hills Trust. Tesla share sales have netted the JRM Rev Trust $107 million since Spring last year, according to SEC documents. Tesla also owns 19 million shares in SpaceX, potentially benefiting James Murdoch. There are Street rumors that Tesla may be folded into SpaceX too. 

James is currently listed as an independent director who joined Tesla in July 2017. 

The revelations give weight to the idea that James Murdoch has been a canny investor since his exit from Fox. Musk was spotted sitting with Rupert and daughter Liz Murdoch at the Super Bowl in 2023 and shared that he had discussed his Dogecoin initiatives. That was the year Rupert and Lachlan tried to figure out a way to change the irrevocable family trust to solidify Lachlan’s control over the companies, ostensibly to avoid disputes boiling over after Rupert passes away—a move that ultimately triggered the probate fight. 

James has been setting his own course since the Disney sale, establishing his own investment firm Lupa Systems in New York in 2019. That year, SpaceX began launching broadband satellites that became part of Starlink, a business that James Murdoch knows well, having run two satellite pay-TV ventures, Sky in the U.K. and Star in Asia. 

After exiting Fox, James began investing in a host of businesses both in the media and beyond. Most recently, he made a $300 million deal to acquire a large portion of Vox Media, owner of New York magazine, a brace of niche websites, and a collection of podcasts from the likes of tech journalist Kara Swisher and Professor Scott Galloway. 

He has made a host of other investments that span the arts, including comic book publisher and studio AWA; Tribeca Enterprises, the Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal-helmed Tribeca Film Festival owner; and MCH Group, the holding company of global art show Art Basel. James is also invested in a streaming media service joint venture in India through Bodhi Tree Systems, which received funds from Comcast and the Qatar Investment Authority. 

“To me this is no surprise, James has been a savvy global technology investor for decades,” said Jon Miller, the chief executive of TPG-backed Integrated Media. Miller is a former CEO of AOL and was the chief digital officer at News Corp overseeing Hulu.

Veteran media analyst Brian Wieser of media and marketing focused advisory firm Madison and Wall believes it’s very hard to say with certainty what the actual potential windfall might be but acknowledges it’s likely significant if James Murdoch bought shares at $4.40 in 2020 those shares, and the ones acquired in 2019 have grown 33x. 

He said: “Given that James Murdoch has been in the SpaceX orbit for a while, since Tesla, it’s unsurprising that he’s benefited financially. And if so, it’s very plausible that someone like James Murdoch could end up making a lot more from the holdings of SpaceX than they ever would from holding traditional media companies. Though that presumes they can get liquid, holding the shares doesn’t mean anything if you can’t sell them.”—With reporting by Amanda Gerut.

Claire Atkinson is the author of an upcoming new biography of Rupert Murdoch for Grand Central Publishing, scheduled to be published in 2027.

The statement posted on social media late Saturday did not provide any additional details about the South Carolina Republican, a former Air Force lawyer, and said his family “appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period.”

“Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead!” Trump posted on social media early Sunday. “He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!! DETAILS AND ARRANGEMENTS TO FOLLOW. So sad!”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said “my heart is heavy this morning to learn the passing of my friend and colleague.”

Thune said Graham was “a strong advocate for the United States and a strong ally to freedom-loving countries across the globe. He believed in the might of America to achieve good in the world and dedicated his life to advancing that cause.”

Graham was one of the most influential figures in Washington on foreign policy, and he advised Trump on matters such as Iran and Russia. The senator had just returned from Ukraine and announced an agreement on Friday with the Trump administration to move forward on a package of Russia sanctions. He had been scheduled to appear on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning.

As chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Graham had a central role during Trump’s second term as Republicans pushed major legislation on party-line votes while holding a narrow 53-47 majority in the chamber.

Under South Carolina law, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster will appoint a temporary replacement for Graham, who was seeking a fifth term in November.

Graham was close with Trump

Graham, who was elected to the Senate in 2002 after serving in the House, long promoted a policy of robust U.S. military interventionism and strong national defense that in later years would put him at odds with the growing isolationist wing of the Republican Party.

More recently, Graham had become well-known for his close ties with Trump, whom the senator briefly ran against for the party’s presidential nomination in 2016.

Their relationship would begin on a rough note, with Graham calling the then-New York businessman “unfit for office.” Graham also used a profanity to describe Trump after Trump made disparaging comments about Arizona Republican John McCain, Graham’s best friend in the Senate and a Vietnam War veteran. McCain and Graham, along with Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., were known as the “Three Amigos” and frequently traveled together to push their hawkish foreign policy views around the globe.

During a campaign rally in South Carolina, Trump read out Graham’s personal cellphone number and continued to belittle him throughout the 2016 campaign as Graham made it clear he would not support Trump, even though he was the nominee.

But Graham shifted significantly once Trump won the White House. He emerged as one of Trump’s top allies — speaking with him frequently and becoming a regular presence on the golf course alongside the president — even as McCain remained a critic.

In a 2018 interview with The Associated Press, Graham explained his pivot by saying McCain taught him that the country must move forward after elections and that meant “you have an obligation” to help the president. McCain ran twice for the White House.

“And I’ve tried to be helpful where I could because I think he needs all the help he can get,” Graham said of Trump. “You can be a better critic when people understand that you’re trying to help them be successful.”

Graham appeared to break with Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, saying, “Count me out. Enough is enough.” But the senator returned to the fold and remained close with the president during his second term.

Foreign policy was a focus for Graham

Graham had been in Ukraine to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said that the senator visited his country 10 times during the years since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

“Lindsey was a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer,” Zelenskyy said.

Graham’s travels made him a familiar face to dozens of world leaders.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mourned Graham’s death, calling him “a great friend of Israel” and “a cherished friend of mine.”

Netanyahu said Graham understood that the security of Israel and the United States was inseparable and devoted his life to defending America, strengthening the U.S.-Israel alliance and standing up for the free world.

“Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend,” Netanyahu said.

Graham was chairman of Senate Budget, Judiciary committees

As chairman of the Budget panel, Graham’s committee oversaw a process called reconciliation, a Senate procedure that allowed Republicans to pass significant policies such as last year’s tax law without the threat of a Democratic filibuster.

He had previously led the Senate Judiciary Committee when Republicans confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in 2020, and was in line to regain that gavel if the party kept control of the Senate after the midterms elections.

“In 2027, I’ll be Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee once again,” Graham posted on X on June 30. “And I’ll wake up every single day with one goal: confirming as many conservative judges as possible.”

Graham was a key player in the Senate’s efforts to craft a massive immigration overhaul in 2013 as a member of a bipartisan group that wrote a sweeping measure that would have altered virtually every part of U.S. immigration law. It passed the Senate with 68 votes but was never taken up by the House, so it did not become law.

But Graham’s views on immigration, particularly an endorsement of a path to citizenship for people in the U.S. without legal status, put him at odds with some Republican factions.

He sometimes faced primary challenges in his home state of South Carolina, but he won the nomination outright in June.

The senator addressed the president in his victory speech last month, saying, “I’m going to help you change this world and change this country.”

Special election to replace Graham could be within weeks

Graham won 57% of the GOP vote in the primary and was up against Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, and several minor party and independent candidates in November.

After McMaster appoints a replacement, South Carolina law requires a special primary for voters to select a new nominee within weeks of a vacancy. The general election winner will take office January, beginning a full six-year term.

McMaster’s office did not immediately return messages seeking comment on who would take Graham’s seat or when the machinations for the primary would begin. State party officials said early Sunday they would release more information when they could.

The sparse statement by Graham’s office, which did not explain his death, comes during a stretch of concern about a lack of transparency about lawmakers’ health.

Rep. Tom Kean Jr., R-N.J., was absent without explanation for months before returning to Congress and disclosing that he had been diagnosed with depression.

Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former longtime Republican leader, was hospitalized weeks ago for undisclosed health reasons.

McMaster said in a statement that Graham was “irreplaceable.”

“The fiercest of fighters for South Carolina and America — and a loyal and steadfast friend,” McMaster said. He added: “We shall not see his likes again.”

Graham was not married and did not have children. His closest living relative is sister Darline Graham Nordone, whom he helped raise after both their parents died.