Rupert Murdoch’s attempt to rule from the grave is stranger than fiction

Family patriarch, media mogul, nonagenarian and serial groom Rupert Murdoch has been famed for his remarks that he will live forever. He now appears to be aiming for the next best thing – the right to rule from the grave.

For the past nine months, he has been tied up in an (until now) secret legal battle with three of his children aimed at securing his eldest son, Lachlan, as successor to the corporate throne of his media empire.

Rupert Murdoch appears to be aiming for the next best thing to immortality: the right to rule from the grave.Credit: The New York Times

Yet again, the Murdoch clan is demonstrating that truth can be stranger than fiction. The HBO television series Succession, which is loosely based on the machinations of this dynasty, doesn’t do justice to reality.

Through the decades, Murdoch snr has been no stranger to taking risks, but this latest roll of the dice is next level.

If his legal strategy backfires, the future of the empire could fall to a different heir with a very different plan for its future.

To facilitate his plans, he needs the court to approve a change to the terms of an irrevocable family trust – one which currently splits the controlling stakes in News Corporation and Fox Corp between his four eldest children (Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan and James) upon his death. (Rupert’s younger daughters, Chloe and Grace, have a financial interest, but no voting interest.)

Rupert 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, according to The New York Times, which obtained legal documents that spewed the contents of the tawdry succession battle.

Unlike most succession battles, Rupert’s move isn’t about money – it’s about power and control. He wants his business empire to continue to reflect his political views by giving control to the child who is most closely cut from his ideological cloth: Lachlan.

If Rupert loses, he has managed to galvanise three of his children into a bloc against Lachlan, which would likely ensure he will not remain on the throne of the Murdoch empire, which controls Fox and an international stable of publishing assets across the US, Britain and Australia.

To execute this legal manoeuvre, Rupert will rely on a narrow provision that enables changes to be made for the sole purpose of benefiting all of its members – the four elder Murdoch children.

Yet again, the Murdoch clan is demonstrating that truth can be stranger than fiction.

Murdoch’s lawyers have argued that he is trying to protect James, Elisabeth and Prudence by ensuring that they won’t be able to moderate Fox’s politics or disrupt its operations with constant fights over leadership, according to The New York Times.

The rationale is that Lachlan will allow media assets like Fox to retain their ultra-conservative political bent, one that has charged their profitability. And in doing so, this will be financially advantageous to his siblings.

It feels like Rupert is mounting a risky argument, given the counterfactual that if Elisabeth or James ended up in control, their corporate strategies would diminish the value of Fox and/or News Corp.

Elisabeth in particular has been highly successful in her own business endeavours, and has been viewed by media experts as the most capable of the four children.

Happier days: Rupert with (from left) James, Elisabeth and Lachlan at a private family gathering in London in 2007.Credit: Getty

The trial is to begin in September, with the more liberal-leaning Prudence, Elisabeth and James jointly fighting their father’s move. They are being represented together by the same counsel.

Apart from the obvious strain Rupert’s move will place on family relationships, it calls into question whether his actions are necessary.

Over recent decades, allegiances between various family members appear to have changed, but division has been a recurring theme.

James and Elisabeth have previously competed with each other, and Lachlan, to eventually take over the company. James left the company in 2019 and now oversees an investment fund, and Elisabeth runs a successful movie studio, Sister.

Rupert Murdoch, 93, at his wedding in June to Elena Zhukova.

Since leaving the family business, James has been vocal in his criticism of parts of the business, and in particular the corrosive impact of the ultraconservative Fox News.

His views may be supported by Elisabeth privately, but she has been scrupulous about not revealing any partisanship.

Prudence, who is most distant from the corporate empire, keeps a low profile, and while there have been suggestions over the years that she is most aligned with Lachlan, she also keeps her private counsel.

Credit: Matt Golding

Had Rupert not intervened through the courts, it’s possible that Lachlan could have garnered enough sibling support to retain his position after his father’s death.

But if Rupert is unsuccessful, he will probably have ensured that Lachlan will no longer be wearing the crown. That is a very bold roll of the succession dice.

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