Rupert Murdoch, the founder of News Corp. and Fox News Corp. — two of the world’s most influential media companies — saw his plan for succession suffer a serious blow via a recent court ruling that will likely leave the mogul’s news empire in control of his left-leaning children who have vowed to radically change Fox News.
As reported by Newsmax on Tuesday, a 2024 Nevada court ruled that the 93-year-old billionaire could not change his irrevocable family trust after Murdoch sought to give his 52-year-old son Lachlan, a conservative, control over his public companies. The ruling states that all four of Murdoch’s adult children will retain equal voting power over their father’s empire after he dies.
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Furthermore, The New York Times reported last Thursday that the contentious legal case is still underway.
According to The Times, more than 3,000 pages of documents “reveal how years of betrayals led to a messy court battle that threatens the future of Rupert’s empire.”
The Times also reported that the elder Murdoch was motivated to change the family trust because of worries about his children James, Prudence, and Elisabeth, who had all expressed concerns about the editorial positions of the family’s news outlets. The Murdoch offspring’s rebellion against their father’s wishes appears to be led by James Murdoch.
For months, Rupert and his firstborn son, Lachlan, had been working on a secret plan to amend the family’s trust to strip three of his other children — Prue, Liz and James — of their power to influence the direction of the family business. Their lawyers had named it Project Family Harmony.
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Rupert did not intend to tell James in advance. The two men were hardly speaking. It was the 50-year-old James, really, who had brought his father to this place: Rupert and Lachlan … were convinced that he planned to lead a family coup to take control away from Lachlan after their father’s death.
Rupert figured he might have more luck with Prue and Liz, with whom he was still close despite plenty of ups and downs over the years. He hoped to persuade them that locking in Lachlan’s leadership was the best thing for everyone.
Unfortunately, depending on one’s view of Fox News, it appears that Rupert’s plan was further dashed by a recent court ruling that will likely radically change the network of Sean Hannity, Jesse Watters, Laura Ingraham, and other Trump loyalists.
If so, the change will be sealed by simple math. Given that the aforementioned trust remains intact, with all four Murdoch kids retaining equal voting rights, Lachlan will be outnumbered, assuming the three other kids continue to stand together.
“I love each of my children,” Rupert said, according to the Times, “and my support of Lachlan is not intended to suggest otherwise. But these companies need a designated leader, and Lachlan is that leader.”
Needless to say, Rupert’s admission did not sit well with his three other kids.
According to The Times, “Prue was stunned. ‘Right,’ she stammered, too shocked to fully digest the news, let alone offer a response.” And Liz told her dad, “You are completely disenfranchising me and my siblings. You’ve blown a hole in the family.” Given that James has called Fox a “menace,” Rupert and Lachlan stand alone.
Assuming Fox News eventually goes the way other media outlets, then what? Will a new entity be created by, oh, I don’t know, Elon Musk, perhaps? Will another powerful conservative outlet rise to the occasion? Or will major conservative news media be officially dead in America?
