Real-life Succession ends: Lachlan Murdoch takes control of media empire and siblings take cash
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Mr Rupert Murdoch (centre) flanked by his sons Lachlan (left) and James at St Bride's church in central London.
PHOTO: AFP
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LOS ANGELES – The Murdoch family’s epic, decades-long succession battle has reached a multibillion-dollar finale.
The family has reached a deal that will see Mr Rupert Murdoch’s politically conservative eldest son Lachlan Murdoch cement control of the family media empire, which includes Fox News and The Wall Street Journal.
The agreement, announced on Sept 8, puts to rest questions of succession within the Murdoch family after its patriarch’s death.
The drama is considered to be one of the inspirations for the television series Succession, about the infighting of the members of a media dynasty. Its real-life resolution preserves the conservative tilt of the Murdoch media outlets.
Under the deal, Mr Rupert Murdoch’s children James Murdoch, Elisabeth Murdoch and Prudence MacLeod will receive cash from the sale of about 16.9 million shares of Fox Class B voting stock and about 14.2 million shares of News Corp’s Class B common stock.
The amount of the payment was not disclosed, but one source said they are each expected to receive about US$1.1 billion (S$1.4 billion) in proceeds.
They agreed to sell their personal holdings in Fox and News Corp over a period of six months, according to the announcement.
A new family trust will be created to benefit Mr Lachlan Murdoch and his younger siblings Grace and Chloe Murdoch, who are Mr Rupert Murdoch’s children from his marriage with Ms Wendi Deng Murdoch.
This trust, worth about US$3.3 billion, according to the source, will hold the controlling stake in the two main Murdoch media companies, Fox Corp and News Corp.
A battle over Mr Rupert Murdoch’s global television and publishing empire played out last autumn in a Reno, Nevada, courtroom, where a judge considered the contentious matter of succession.
The 94-year-old Mr Murdoch attempted to change the terms of the family’s trust, which was set up after his 1999 divorce from his second wife Anna, and holds significant stakes in Fox News parent Fox and Wall Street Journal owner News Corp.
Under the original trust, News Corp and Fox voting shares would have been transferred to his four oldest children upon his death.
The patriarch worried that three of his heirs – James, Elisabeth and Prudence – could mount a coup to oust Mr Lachlan Murdoch, who serves as executive chairman of Fox and chairman of News Corp.
So he proposed an amendment to the trust that would block any interference by Mr Lachlan’s siblings, who are more politically moderate, according to The New York Times, which obtained a sealed court document detailing the succession drama.
A Reno, Nevada, probate court rejected that plan in December, saying Mr Rupert Murdoch and Mr Lachlan Murdoch had acted in “bad faith” in seeking to amend the irrevocable trust. That decision created a fresh opening for settlement talks, according to the source.
“It almost certainly means this chapter of the drama is over,” said Mr Brian Wieser, a media analyst at advisory firm Madison and Wall, though the settlement was unlikely to have any impact on the business that Mr Lachlan Murdoch has already been running for years. REUTERS, NYTIMES
