Thanks to billionaire Rupert Murdoch’s outsize personality, his vast sway within the news industry and his role as a kingmaker in conservative politics, there’s long been heightened interest in his megadeals, his complicated family dynamics and the future of his media empire. The intrigue has ratcheted up in recent years thanks to HBO’s popular show, Succession, which was partially inspired by the Murdoch family. In real life, the drama surrounding the Murdochs has played out over several decades and across multiple continents — and another tense legal fight within the mogul’s own family has them back in the headlines yet again.
What’s going on with the Murdochs?
The question of who will take over Murdoch’s massive conservative media empire has resurfaced because of a court case that began Sept. 16 in Reno, Nevada. Murdoch, 93, has six children from three of his five marriages. His eldest child, Prudence, is from his first marriage, while Lachlan, Elisabeth and James, are from his second. Murdoch also has two daughters, Grace and Chloe, who are from his third marriage to businesswoman Wendi Deng.
Murdoch owns about 40% of the voting rights in both Fox Corp. and News Corp. When he stepped down from their boards a year ago, his eldest son, Lachlan — CEO of Fox and chairman of News Corp. — became the apparent winner of a battle between siblings over who would take over their father’s business. Yet a family trust decreed that voting shares were to be divided equally among his four oldest kids after Murdoch’s death, with each child getting one vote, a condition agreed to by Murdoch and his second wife as part of their divorce. All six of his children are to receive the same equity stake from the trust.
However, Murdoch is attempting to change the trust in order to expand Lachlan’s voting power and give him sole control over the companies. Lachlan’s oldest siblings — Prudence, Elisabeth and James — have challenged the changes in a Nevada probate court, which handles legal proceedings around the transfer of property after a person’s death, to keep the trust the same. The outcome could determine the future of the family’s empire.
How has this drama played out so far?
The Nevada probate commissioner ruled in June that Murdoch could make the changes as long as he was doing so in good faith and in the best interest of his heirs. Murdoch has argued that this move will benefit his kids because it will prevent Lachlan’s siblings from making Fox News more politically moderate and hurting its value as a conservative news outlet. Prudence, Elisabeth and James share legal counsel and have argued that the changes would violate the trust’s original conditions and claimed that their father is trying to wrongfully disenfranchise them.
While Nevada has been a favored ground for family trust management because of its lack of income and inheritance taxes, not to mention its substantial privacy protections, that doesn’t mean the case won’t cast an ugly light on the Murdoch family or its inner workings; any leaks about court proceedings or documents will no doubt generate even more intrigue around the family.
What’s at stake?
As the most-watched cable news network in the US, Fox News is one of the crown jewels in Murdoch’s empire. In a harsh media landscape that has been marred by layoffs and cord-cutting, Fox hasn’t spent heavily on a streaming service to compete with Netflix. Instead it’s focused on news and sports, live events that have allowed it to fare better than companies like Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., which have had huge investment costs from building streaming platforms and multibillion dollar writedowns on their traditional cable holdings. News Corp.’s holdings, such as the Wall Street Journal and REA, an online real estate business in Australia, have also managed to thrive amid a migration to digital advertising.
What are some possible outcomes?
If the probate court allows Murdoch to hand over control to Lachlan, Fox News is likely to continue being the most powerful conservative news outlet in the US. If Lachlan’s three siblings were to win their case and can gain greater control, Lachlan’s role would likely change after their father’s death. The children could push the network into new, more moderate territory and drastically change the news media landscape — or they may even look to sell the family businesses.
After hearing arguments, the probate court will issue a recommendation—basically the judge’s opinion on what should happen with the trust. The losing party can appeal within 14 days, which would escalate the case to the district probate judge; that judge can either reverse the previous judge’s recommendation, declaring it erroneous, or uphold it. One of the parties could then appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.
What is Murdoch’s legacy?
Born in Australia to a newspaper-owning father, Murdoch built a massive collection of media outlets, television networks and entertainment studios across Australia, the US and the UK. He has a net worth of $10.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Murdoch’s dealmaking was legendary, such as his sale of 21st Century Fox entertainment businesses to Walt Disney Co. for $71.3 billion in 2019.
Murdoch’s rise to power hasn’t been without controversy. In the UK, Murdoch’s tabloids, including the now-defunct News of the World, were found to have engaged in illegal phone-hackings of celebrities, crime victims and members of the British royal family during the early 2000s. Fox News faced a series of sexual harassment scandals during the 2010s, leading to the exodus of top talent and executives, including Fox News head Roger Ailes. Fox has been criticized for increasing political divisiveness in the US, and agreed to pay a $787.5 million defamation settlement to Dominion Voting Systems after the suit claimed the network falsely reported that the company’s ballot-counting machines were manipulated in order to swing the 2020 election in President Joe Biden’s favor. In a statement on the settlement, Fox said: “We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.”
Where do Murdoch’s children stand?
Lachlan was pegged as an early successor to Murdoch and received training in different roles within the family’s empire. However, after butting heads with Ailes and seeing his father side with the Fox News boss, Lachlan resigned as an executive and engaged in various business ventures in Australia for nearly a decade. He eventually returned to work for his father, becoming chairman of News Corp., and executive chairman and CEO of Fox.
During Lachlan’s absence, James took his brother’s place as Murdoch’s potential successor. Like his brother, he worked in several of his father’s companies, including as chairman of the newspaper group that owned the tabloids involved in the phone-hacking scandal. After the hackings came to light, James stepped down in 2011. He became co-CEO of 21st Century Fox in 2015, but his tenure ended after the company’s sale to Disney. James, who donated $615,000 to Biden’s 2020 campaign and has supported climate causes alongside his wife Kathryn, stepped down from the News Corp. board of directors that same year, stating that he disagreed with the company’s news outlets’ editorial content.
Like James, Elisabeth hasn’t worked within the Murdoch empire in more than a decade, while Prudence held several executive roles within her father’s companies. Like James, Elisabeth and Prudence are typically seen as more politically liberal than their father and Lachlan, but are less outspoken in their beliefs than James.
Lachlan, who has described himself as a libertarian, shares many of his father’s views. In Rupert Murdoch’s 2023 announcement that he was stepping down as chairman of Fox and News Corp., he emphasized that he and Lachlan see the world the same way and intend to keep fighting the culture wars. In a letter to employees, Rupert wrote, “My father firmly believed in freedom, and Lachlan is absolutely committed to the cause.”
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