The Murdoch family Christmas this year: I’d buy tickets to that

The most expensive tickets in the world would be for ringside seats to this year’s Murdoch Christmas after patriarch Rupert lost his bid to rule from the grave by cementing his eldest son Lachlan’s control of his vast media empire.

Now, the gloves have been completely discarded in the battle between the warring factions of the family. Lachlan and his father are in one corner against his sister Elisabeth, half-sister Prudence, and brother James in the other.

Divided dynasty: The future direction of the Murdoch media empire has been thrown into question.Credit: Stephen Kiprillis

Over the years, allegiances between the family members have moved around, but Rupert’s move to legally deprive Elisabeth, James and Prudence of exercising their voting rights over the trust that controls the empire of Fox Corporation and News Corporation has galvanised a fractionalised family.

Where previously, Lachlan may have stood a chance of getting the support of possibly two of his siblings to enable him to retain his executive grip on both Fox and News Corp after Rupert dies, the stakes have almost certainly now changed.

In this family’s civil war, the three Murdoch children – who currently have no executive involvement in the business – will decide its fate on their father’s death if they vote as a bloc.

There is a clock ticking on how much longer the 93-year-old patriarch survives, so there is limited time for a change in the seemingly now-cemented family politics.

Rupert Murdoch’s secret move to amend the irrevocable trust democratically dividing control equally between his four eldest children was a desperately large swing. Not only was the Nevadan court’s commissioner Edmund Gorman unconvinced of Murdoch’s motives, but he characterised 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.

His judgement requires ratification and will be appealed by Rupert and Lachlan, but the fabric of family relationships has now been badly and potentially irrevocably torn.

This battle was never about money, given all his children would get equal access to the fortune currently worth around $US22 billion ($34.2 billion). It was about which of them controls it.

Rupert Murdoch arriving at a Nevada court hearing in September.Credit: NYT

Murdoch’s legal argument was that Lachlan would continue to govern his media empire with a highly right-wing slant – one which has been particularly financially fruitful for Fox. He maintains that this would benefit all the family – but if the more moderate family members took control and the news outlets abandoned the hard right political edge, it would be financially detrimental.

The stakes are high and are made higher by Murdoch’s advanced years – an issue that was apparently referenced during the Nevada court proceedings, during which it was revealed that the children had started secretly discussing the public-relations strategy for their father’s death in April 2023, according to The New York Times.

It reported that these discussions were set off by an episode of the HBO drama, Succession – itself said to be inspired by the Murdoch dynasty.

The commissioner noted that the particular episode “where the patriarch of the family dies, leaving his family and business in chaos” prompted Elisabeth’s representative to the trust, Mark Devereux, to write a “Succession memo” to help avoid a real-life repeat.

Regardless of any family-style preparation, the outcome of the latest legal decision will throw the empire into chaotic uncertainty about the future.

Fox and News Corp shareholders will be left hanging about who will govern each company’s fate.

Minority shareholders have become increasingly uncomfortable about the Murdoch family’s disproportionate control of both companies. While the family has an economic interest of only 14 per cent in News and Fox, they have a voting interest of more than 40 per cent because of a historical but antiquated dual-class share structure. Shareholders put up a resolution at last month’s News Corp annual meeting to eliminate the structure, but it was defeated.

But shareholders, at least, understood Lachlan Murdoch’s strategy was one which followed that of his father.

If his siblings take charge, the new regime will usher in a new, unknown future.

For investors, it’s a crap shoot.

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