It’s almost exactly like something out of HBO’s “Succession,” to the point that it almost feels silly to point it out. Media billionaire Rupert Murdoch and his shifting attitude towards what will happen to his empire after he’s gone has created a massive rift within the Murdoch family.
The simple version is that Murdoch is worried his famously right-wing media properties could soften or drift leftward ideologically under the control of any of his children apart from Lachlan Murdoch, the current CEO of Fox News. Murdoch’s concern here seems to be less ideological than economical, as he reportedly believes that such a shift would diminish the brand’s value.
Lachlan, Rupert, and James Murdoch (Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
As things stand now, control of Murdoch’s media holdings would be passed to a trust controlled by four of his adult children: Lachlan, James, Elisabeth, and Prudence Murdoch. But now, the elder Murdoch is seeking to change that trust so that Lachlan retains sole control, a move the other siblings are attempting to block.
According to some of Murdoch’s own business associates, Rupert’s effort to leave his business empire under the sole control of Lachlan comes as a result of his having come to resent criticism from his other children regarding the direction of Fox News, particularly James. It’s the elder Murdoch’s position that his judgment built a fortune now valued at some $19 billion from the ground up, and it’s worth noting that in the spring of 2019 when Murdoch sold the 20th Century Fox movie studio and other corporate assets to Disney, all his children received payouts of approximately $2 billion each.
Ironically, Murdoch is also said to be interested in changing the trust because he believes that to leave it as is would cause in-fighting between the siblings. The current arrangement is an “irrevocable trust” that can be somewhat difficult by design to change, but a probate commissioner in the state of Nevada recently ruled that Murdoch could make changes to it in good faith and for the benefit of all heirs. Since Murdoch seems to believe that Lachlan’s sole control of Fox News is best for the brand’s economic value, the commissioner ruled those conditions were being met. But the other three Murdoch children have retained the services of their own attorney to attempt to prove otherwise.
It’s more than just Fox News under the control of the trust. Murdoch also controls News Corp, which counts such publications as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post among its holdings.