The tycoon Rupert Murdoch has lost a battle in the war for his successionafter a court ruling prevented him from altering his trust to leave his son Lachlan in charge of his media empire after his death, as reported this Monday by ‘The New York Times’.
A probate commissioner in Nevada has concluded in a decision dated Saturday that Murdoch, 93, and Lachlan acted “in bad faith” by trying to modify the statutes of the document that grants the reins of the powerful conglomerate to his four children after his death. older, in equal parts, according to the American newspaper that cited the ruling under judicial secrecy.
The case has been argued behind closed doors in a Reno court.
Adam Streisand, Murdoch’s lawyer, has not yet assessed the court decision.
The quest for control of an empire
Murdoch sought to guarantee absolute control to Lachlan, whom his father put in charge of Fox News and News Corp in 2023 – which brings together ‘The Wall Street Journal’ and other British and Australian media -, something to which his children James, Prudence and Elisabeth object.
The fight, reminiscent of the tensions of the hit HBO series ‘Succession’ (partly inspired by the family’s story), is crucial in determining the future of this influential communications group.
Preserve the ideological line
The magnate’s interest is to preserve the conservative tendency of his empire, with which Lachlan is aligned.
His three brothers are seen as more moderate.
James Murdoch, who left News Corp in 2020supported Democrat Kamala Harris in the American presidential election.
The Fox News network, the group’s flagship, is at the forefront of the conservative sector in the ideological battle in the United States.
It has been accused of fueling misinformation on Covid-19 vaccines and having amplified allegations that the 2020 presidential election was rigged to the detriment of Donald Trump.
This inclination has impacted the medium’s finances.
Fox News agreed in April 2023 to pay $787.5 million to the manufacturer of electronic voting machines Dominion Voting Systems, at the center of Trumpism conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, which the network echoed.
Murdoch initially established the trust to ensure that his four eldest children would inherit his empire and decide their future together.
But his recent interest in preserving the lucrative political line of his media, especially Fox News, led him to prioritize Lachlan as his successor, without financially affecting any of his heirs.
To modify his trust, Murdoch needed to prove that the changes were necessary to benefit his beneficiaries.
This was not the case with this request, according to the position of Commissioner Edmund J. Gorman Jr., according to ‘The New York Times’.
“Carefully crafted farce”
According to the newspaper, Gorman Jr. issued a 96-page ruling in which he characterized Murdoch’s action as “a carefully crafted charade” to “permanently consolidate the executive functions of Lachlan Murdoch” despite “the repercussions that such control would have on the companies or the beneficiaries.
In this type of procedure, after listening to the arguments of all the parties, the inheritance commissioner issues his recommendation to a court that will decide to accept them or not.
Murdoch’s legal team will appeal the ruling, according to the New York newspaper.
News Corp, whose turnover exceeded $10 billion in 2023, is also present in the publishing world with HarperCollins, and in real estate advertising.
The media conglomerate is seen as an influential factor in political events such as Brexit and Trump’s popularity in the United States.
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