Murdoch's succession war: Media mogul is working to oust his moderate children
Murdoch's succession war: Media mogul is working to oust his moderate children
The 93-year-old founder of News Corp is waging a succession war against three of his children who, in his estimation, may harm the conservative line of the media entities under his control, led by Fox News. The "sins" of his son James: support for Biden and environmental struggles.
One of the most influential families in the media world is in the midst of succession struggles, away from the public eye. The Murdoch family patriarch, Rupert, is waging a battle for his legacy and control of News Corp, as he tries not only to establish his son Lachlan as his successor but also to prevent three of his other children from having any influence over the nature of the media.
The Murdoch family controls global media assets, including Fox News, the most-watched news channel in the United States, and "The Wall Street Journal," the country's most important business newspaper. News Corp also controls the "New York Post," the magazine "Barron's," and the book publisher HarperCollins. The company, founded in Australia, also owns the British "Sun" and "Times," two of the most important publications in the United Kingdom.
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Rupert Murdoch (center) with sons Lachlan (left) and James
(Photo: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty)
Murdoch's four eldest children (out of six) — Lachlan, James, Elizabeth, and Prudence — hold four equal votes in the family trust fund. There was a long succession struggle among them until Rupert resigned as chairman of News Corp and Fox in November 2023, leaving Lachlan as the sole chairman of News Corp and executive chairman and CEO of Fox. Rupert, known for deliberately creating rivalry between his children, served as inspiration for the award-winning series "Succession."
It is impossible to overstate the importance of the media empire and its influence on political discourse in the United States, Great Britain, and Australia. Rupert became a kind of monarch for the Republican Party, and Fox News is considered Trump's home ground. Now, given his age (93) and against the backdrop of the more moderate political leanings of three of his children, Rupert has submitted a request to the court to change the terms of the trust fund so that control of his assets will pass to his children only if Lachlan takes over the management of the company.
According to documents obtained by The New York Times, Rupert claimed that only if Lachlan managed the company would its value be guaranteed, as the intervention of his other children could change the conservative tendency of the media and damage the value of the assets. Rupert is mainly concerned about the "lack of consensus" among the siblings and fears that this will affect "the strategic direction of both companies, including a potential new direction of editorial and content policies." William Barr, a former attorney general under Donald Trump, serves as a legal adviser to Rupert.
Rupert defined the move as "Project Harmony," hoping these changes would prevent legal battles after his death. But the opposite turned out to be true when Lachlan's angry siblings began to take legal action. Prudence, Elizabeth, and James claim that the change was not made "in good faith" and that, contrary to the terms of the fund, it does not benefit all the heirs or protect the value of the holdings. The children are estranged from their father and did not even attend his fifth wedding held last month in California. According to The New York Times, if the parties do not find a way to compromise, a trial is expected to open in Nevada in September.
Rupert is not entirely wrong. James, a businessman, stepped down from any role at the company in 2020, supported Joe Biden for president, and criticized the way the company-controlled media covers the climate crisis. Elizabeth held various positions at News Corp before leaving and launching a production company (Shine), which was sold in 2011 to News Corp. She then launched a successful production company called Sister, which participated in the production of the award-winning mini-series "Chernobyl." Prudence has remained relatively quiet in the background of the family struggle.
News Corp's grip on the communications agenda in English-speaking countries has begun to loosen over the past two decades with the rise of social media. Rupert recognized the trend and gained control of Myspace, whose days were numbered. The ongoing erosion of the power of the established press in general and Fox News in particular escalated with Trump's loss in 2020. The end of this presidential race led to huge lawsuits against Fox and some of its famous broadcasters, such as Tucker Carlson, for spreading the theory that the election was stolen from Trump. The voting machine company Dominion filed a libel suit against Fox that ended in an unprecedented settlement of $787 million. Fox even fired Carlson. Following these scandals, Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., said of Rupert on the sidelines of the Republican Party convention in Milwaukee: "There was a time where if you wanted to survive in the Republican Party, you had to bend the knee to to him or to others. I don't think that's the case anymore."
News Corp's stock has jumped by about 12% since the beginning of the year to about $27.3, close to an all-time high, and the company trades at a value of about $15.7 billion. However, with the announcement of the legal battle, the stock weakened by 2%.
