Rupert Murdoch is facing a familial battle royale as three of the 93-year-old media mogul’s four adult children fight his efforts to adjust the family trust in order to leave eldest son Lachlan Murdoch in charge after his death, according to an investigative report published Wednesday by the New York Times.
The Times report is based in part on a 48-page decision by a Nevada probate commissioneer that was filed under seal but obtained by the newspaper. Three of Rupert Murdoch’s four adult children — Prudence, Elisabeth and James — are fighting their father’s efforts to adjust the trust. The battle has so far played out in secret but will now be closely watched as the probate commissioner considers petitions filed by the three younger Murdochs.
According to the Times, Rupert Murdoch is motivated by the desire to ensure that the Fox News, the New York Post, Wall Street Journal and other media assets under the Fox Corp. and News Corp. banners maintain the politically conservative perspectives that they now present to viewers and readers.
The elder Murdoch “is arguing in court that only by empowering Lachlan to run the company without interference from his more politically moderate siblings can he preserve its conservative editorial bent, and thus protect its commercial value for all his heirs,” the Times reported.
The conflict began late last year as Rupert Murdoch sought to gather support from his children for the amendment. The Times reported that the unnamed probate commissioner “found that Mr. Murdoch could amend the trust if he is able to show he is acting in good faith and for the sole benefit of his heirs.”
Representatives for Rupert Murdoch, Fox Corp. and News Corp. could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Murdoch trust at present gives equal weight to all four of the oldest children after their father’s death. Rupert Murdoch has two daughters, Chloe and Grace, by his third wife, Wendi Deng. The two youngest children get a share of the trust but do not have the same voting rights as the other four children. The trust terms related to Chloe and Grace were set prior to the dissolution of the Deng-Murdoch marriage in late 2013.
Rupert Murdoch’s goal is to adjust the voting terms of the trust to give Lachlan more sway over decision-making after Rupert’s death. Of the four adult children, Lachlan is known to be most like his father in terms of political temperament — in contrast to the more liberal-leaning James and Elisabeth. Prudence, the oldest of the Murdoch children, is rarely involved in public family squabbles, a sign of how angry the siblings are about what they see as their father’s power grab for the favored older son.
William Barr, the former U.S. Attorney General under the Trump administration, is assissting Rupert Murdoch in his effort to adjust the trust, the Times reported. Barr has been named a representative for Rupert Murdoch on the trust’s governing board.
The latest machinations in the Murdoch universe sparked immediate comparisons to a storyline in the much-praised HBO drama “Succession,” which was loosely based on the Murdochs, the Redstones (which are in the midst of their own family drama and the saleof Paramount Global) and other family-controlled business empires.
“Who needs Succession?” quipped New Yorker writer Jane Mayer in an X post after the story broke.
From Variety US