Rupert Murdoch has lost his attempt to cement his eldest son Lachlan’s control of his media empire and seal Fox News’ right-wing editorial slant, The New York Times reported.
Nevada commissioner Edmund J Gorman Jr., ruled against Rupert Murdoch’s bid and observed that the father and son, who heads Fox News and News Corp., acted in “bad faith” to amend the irreversible family trust.
The trust divides the control of Rupert Murdoch’s company equally among his four oldest children, Lachlan, James, Elisabeth and Prudence, after his death.
The Murdoch(s), the first family of news, had reportedly inspired the popular TV series Succession. The show portrays a fictional version of the real-life battle between the children of a powerful patriarch over who should become the new face of the company once their old man dies.
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The 93-year-old Rupert Murdoch had always intended on his children inheriting the massive empire that he built, and jointly decide on its next course of action.
While Prudence, the eldest daughter, has had little involvement in the family business, the other three children, Lachlan, James and Elisabeth, have all been considered as successors at various times.
However, in recent years, Murdoch reportedly was worried for Fox News, the crown jewel of his media empire. He thought that owing to James and Elisabeth’s more centrist views, Fox’s right-wing slant might get ignored after his death.
In view of this, Murdoch decided to cement the control of the media empire to Lachlan, who at present heads Fox News and News Corp.
Rupert Murdoch‘s empire, which is one of the world’s most powerful conservative media, includes Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post and several other major newspapers and television outlets in Australia and Britain.
‘Carefully crafted charade’
The Nevada Commissioner, in his somewhat scathing ruling, described the plan to change the family trust as a “carefully crafted charade” to “permanently cement Lachlan Murdoch’s executive roles” inside the empire “regardless of the impacts such control would have over the companies or the beneficiaries” of the trust, the NYT reported citing the sealed court document.
In his argument to change the family trust, Murdoch senior has argued that maintaining the political stance of his outlets and stripping the voting powers of his other three children, is in the best financial interest of all his beneficiaries.
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The proceedings to change the family trust also revealed that Murdoch’s children had been strategically planning the public-relations strategy for their father’s death in April 2023. What led to this discussion was an episode of HBO original ‘Succession’, commissioner Gorman wrote, “where the patriarch of the family dies, leaving his family and business in chaos”.
Real-life ‘succession’
Taking cue from the episode, Elisabeth’s trust representative, Mark Devereux, wrote a “Succession” memo to avoid the fiction from turning into a real-life repeat.
Notably, the words of the commissioner, who acts as a “special master”, are not the final words in this case. The recommendations weighed in by him are taken into account by a district judge, who then decides whether to take in or reject it. And even after that, a party is free to challenge it.
The ruling further read, “The play might have worked; but an evidentiary hearing, like a showdown in a game of poker, is where gamesmanship collides with the facts and at its conclusion, all the bluffs are called and the cards lie face up.”
“The court, after considering the facts of this case in the light of the law, sees the cards for what they are and concludes this raw deal will not, over the signature of this probate commissioner, prevail,” it added.
The trust deal reportedly came to be as the result of a deal Murdoch senior had agreed to with his second wife, who is the mother Lachlan, Elisabeth and James. She wanted to ensure that her children are not sidelined by those Murdoch had with his third wife, Wendi Deng.
The Murdoch Family Trust, established in 2006, includes a provision which grants Rupert Murdoch the right to make changes to it as long as his acts were in the best interests of his beneficiaries.
