Updated June 17, 2026 — 1:30pm,first published 12:42pmBillionaire businessman Lindsay Fox approved his son Peter Fox’s departure as executive chairman of the family’s logistics empire Linfox after years of sibling rivalry in a move one insider said was about “future proofing the business”.Peter Fox quit as executive chairman on Wednesday after months of extended leave from his role with the family-owned group, the main source of Lindsay Fox’s $5.7 billion fortune, in the first step of a major reorganisation of the conglomerate’s leadership.Linfox’s Peter Fox with father Lindsay in Brisbane in May 2025.Dan Peled“The two shareholders are Lindsay and [his wife] Paula and this is very much their decision,” the insider said, adding that tensions between Peter and his younger brothers Andrew and David were “a known element but not the driving force”.Peter Fox had been affected by a period of ill health that the family have previously referred to as a bad couple of years.His absence from the company, which has continued all year, had previously been described as a voluntary “sabbatical”.“I am on annual leave,” Peter Fox told The Australian Financial Review in January. “The work on Armaguard has taken its toll and I needed a breather. I am scheduled to return in early April – if not sooner. I am here to stay.”But Lindsay Fox told staff on Wednesday in an email that Peter would not be returning to an executive role with Linfox. The elder Fox expressed his “immense and heartfelt gratitude” to his son, who he said would continue as chairman of the family’s cash transport business, Armaguard.“Peter has dedicated over 35 years to the logistics business, playing an integral role in its growth, and building strong relationships with customers, suppliers and financiers,” his father told staff.The family would “embark on a new governance model, beginning with the appointment of independent chairs for operational businesses”, the email said.Peter Fox, 63, would commence as a non-executive director on the boards of Linfox Logistics Australia and New Zealand and Linfox International on September 1.Insiders described the move as “a family choice”.The timing of the announcement looks as if it was influenced by Lindsay and Paula Fox’s travels – they are now heading to Europe.The “new governance model” in Lindsay Fox’s email includes making former Defence Department chief Dennis Richardson’s interim role as chairman of Linfox Logistics Australia and New Zealand permanent, and the same for former EY partner Trevor Hughes’ interim role as chairman of Linfox International Group.This would provide “stability for the business as the group transitions its governance model,” Fox said.Younger sons Andrew and David Fox are also on the Linfox board. They run the Linfox Property Group, which owns the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, and Linfox Airports, which controls Melbourne’s Avalon and Essendon Fields airports, respectively.Tensions between the brothers is longstanding. Succession is a vexed issue for many family companies, especially a 70-year-old business that grew from a trucking firm into a logistics behemoth while Lindsay and wife Paula raised six children. The Fox family has, until now, publicly avoided the succession dramas that have torn apart the Murdoch family and Lang Hancock’s descendants, over the family trusts that have owned and governed their respective business empires.Lindsay, who turned 89 in April, has five living children and 17 grandchildren.He is a powerful figure in Melbourne, known for his extravagant birthday parties and close relationship with influential politicians at the state and federal level. In 2023 Prime Minister Anthony Albanese flew with Daniel Andrews, then Victorian premier, in a private helicopter to the Fox family’s seaside mansion in Portsea south of Melbourne for a five-hour barbecue.Peter Fox started as a trainee cadet at transport company Mayne Nickless, before joining Linfox in Brisbane as a trainee supervisor.In 2021, this masthead reported Peter Fox’s son James was working in Lismore, in the Northern Rivers district of NSW, at the family’s recently acquired Hernes Freight ServicesPeter Fox was in the headlines during the COVID-19 lockdowns for leaving Melbourne during the lockdown for Queensland and leasing Moto GP champion Mick Doohan’s mansion on the Gold Coast. Queensland Police granted him an exemption after Fox told them he was a truck driver and held a “multi-combination driver’s licence”.In October, he clinched a deal between Linfox’s cash transport business Armaguard, the big four banks and retailers such as Coles Woolworths to help support the business, which was suffering financially from the falling use of banknotes and coins.Linfox is one of the largest trucking firms in Australia, shipping goods to supermarkets and cash around the country.Among other changes within the Linfox group, former union boss Bill Kelty resigned as a director of Linfox Group Pty Ltd in March, having joined in December.The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.From our partners