Rupert Murdoch loses bid to choose who controls his media empire
Court documents also reveal Murdoch children had begun discussing a PR strategy for their father’s death after watching TV show Succession
Rupert Murdoch has lost a bid to change his family trust to consolidate control of his media empire in the hands of his son Lachlan, after a Nevada court ruling.
The trust currently would divide control of the company equally among Rupert Murdoch’s four oldest children – Lachlan, James, Elisabeth and Prudence – after his death.
Nevada commissioner Edmund Gorman concluded that Rupert Murdoch and his eldest son, Lachlan, who is the head of Fox News parent Fox Corp and News Corp, had acted in “bad faith” in their effort to amend the irrevocable trust, the New York Times reported, citing a sealed court document.
Rupert Murdoch, 93, proposed amending the family trust to solidify Lachlan’s leadership of the family’s media empire after the his death, and block any interference by three of Lachlan’s siblings, who are politically moderate, the Times reported.
Under one scenario, three of the heirs could technically out-vote a fourth, setting up a battle over the future of the powerful media outlets, even as Lachlan Murdoch runs Fox and is sole chair of News Corp.
Gorman described the plan to change the 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 family trust, the Times said.
James, Elisabeth and Prudence issued a joint statement expressing hope that the family would focus on mending relationships.
“We welcome Commissioner Gorman’s decision and hope that we can move beyond this litigation to focus on strengthening and rebuilding relationships among all family members,” they said.
The court ruling also revealed that the siblings had discussed a PR strategy for his death in April last year, prompted by an episode of the hit TV show Succession in which Logan Roy dies.
It spurred Elisabeth’s representative on the trust to write a “Succession memo” aimed at avoiding the chaos depicted on the programme, according to the court documents seen by the Times.
A lawyer for Rupert Murdoch, Adam Streisand, said they were disappointed with the ruling and intended to appeal, the Times reported.
The commissioner’s ruling is subject to approval by a district judge, whose decision could be challenged in court.
The trust was set up in Nevada, which is prized for its strict confidentiality rules.
