Rupert Murdoch is quietly battling three of his adult children to ensure Fox News remains a conservative force after he’s gone.
Sealed court documents obtained by The New York Times reveal the elderly patriarch’s intense, secretive legal efforts to alter the family’s irrevocable trust, aiming to maintain his media businesses’ ideological stance.
Murdoch created the trust nearly 25 years ago. Since then, the family’s political views have diverged sharply.
The New York Times’ Jim Rutenberg and Jonathan Mahler provide more details on the unfolding situation, which resembles the plot of HBO’s “Succession.”
Mr. Murdoch, 93, set the drama in motion late last year, when he made a surprise move to change the terms of the Murdochs’ irrevocable family trust to ensure that his eldest son and chosen successor, Lachlan, would remain in charge of his vast collection of television networks and newspapers.
The trust currently hands control of the family business to the four oldest children when Mr. Murdoch dies. But he 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.
Those three siblings — James, Elisabeth and Prudence — were caught completely off-guard by their father’s effort to rewrite what was supposed to be an inviolable trust and have united to stop him. Lachlan has joined on Mr. Murdoch’s side. Remarkably, the ensuing battle has been playing out entirely out of public view.
Last month, the Nevada 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, according to a copy of his 48-page decision.
A September trial, which will determine if Murdoch is acting in good faith, could greatly impact the future of the world’s most influential media empire. It has the potential to elevate Lachlan Murdoch to unprecedented levels of global influence in mass media.
Representatives for both sides declined to comment.
The three Murdoch siblings are represented by Gary A. Bornstein, a partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore who recently won high‑profile antitrust actions against Google and Apple.
Their father has trial lawyer Adam Streisand in his corner, with experience in high-profile estate disputes involving Michael Jackson and Britney Spears.
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