‘Carefully Crafted Charade’: Billionaire Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch, 93, Loses Legal Battle to Change Family Trust
A Nevada commissioner ruled that Murdoch and his chosen successor had acted in bad faith.
Key Takeaways
- Commissioner Edmund J. Gorman Jr. ruled on Saturday that Rupert Murdoch cannot change his family trust to give one of his sons complete control over his media companies.
- The family trust currently gives the four eldest Murdoch children equal voting power over the Murdoch empire, which includes Fox News and News Corp.
In a decision , a probate commissioner in Nevada 93-year-old Rupert Murdoch’s attempt to change his family’s trust to give his eldest son Lachlan Murdoch more control over the family’s media and business empire.
The decision means that Murdoch’s three other adult children, James, Elisabeth, and Prudence, will have equal voting power with Lachlan over the Murdoch media companies, including Fox News and News Corp, after Murdoch’s death. Murdoch wanted to change the trust to give Lachlan full voting power.
Related: Rupert Murdoch’s Succession Plans Just Got a Lot More Like ‘Succession’
Commissioner Edmund J. Gorman Jr. wrote in a 96-page opinion that Murdoch and Lachlan had acted in “bad faith” by trying to change the trust, per . He wrote that the attempt was a “carefully crafted charade” to “permanently cement Lachlan Murdoch’s executive roles” inside the family’s companies.
The trust was created in 1999, naming James, Elisabeth, Prudence, and Lachlan as equal beneficiaries. Last year, Murdoch as chairman of Fox Corp and News Corp and named Lachlan his successor.
Lachlan shares Murdoch’s conservative views, but his siblings are known to be more left-leaning. James, for example, in 2020 over disagreements about editorial content at the company’s news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post. He also $600,000 to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign that year.
Changing the trust to give Lachlan complete voting power was a step to ensure that Fox News and News Corp maintain their conservative audience after Rupert’s death. It would have ensured that Lachlan isn’t outvoted by his siblings in the future.
Rupert’s lawyers he plans to appeal the decision. The billionaire was worth $12 billion at the time of writing, per .
Key Takeaways
- Commissioner Edmund J. Gorman Jr. ruled on Saturday that Rupert Murdoch cannot change his family trust to give one of his sons complete control over his media companies.
- The family trust currently gives the four eldest Murdoch children equal voting power over the Murdoch empire, which includes Fox News and News Corp.
In a decision , a probate commissioner in Nevada 93-year-old Rupert Murdoch’s attempt to change his family’s trust to give his eldest son Lachlan Murdoch more control over the family’s media and business empire.
The decision means that Murdoch’s three other adult children, James, Elisabeth, and Prudence, will have equal voting power with Lachlan over the Murdoch media companies, including Fox News and News Corp, after Murdoch’s death. Murdoch wanted to change the trust to give Lachlan full voting power.
Related: Rupert Murdoch’s Succession Plans Just Got a Lot More Like ‘Succession’
