A real-life “succession” battle over Rupert Murdoch’s media empire has ended with a Nevada court commissioner denying the billionaire’s bid to amend a family trust and give control to his eldest son.
The case pitted the 93-year-old against three of his children over who would gain the power to control News Corp and Fox News when he dies.
It has been reported that Mr. Murdoch wanted to change a family trust set up in 1999 so his son Lachlan could take control without “interference” from his siblings Prudence, Elisabeth and James.
A Nevada commissioner ruled that Murdoch and Lachlan had acted in “bad faith” and called the effort a “carefully crafted charade.” according to the New York Times.
In a statement, a spokesman for Prudence, Elisabeth and James said: “We welcome Commissioner Gorman’s decision and hope that we can move beyond this trial to focus on strengthening and rebuilding relationships between all family members.”
Adam Streisand, attorney for Mr. Murdoch, told the New York Times they were disappointed and planned to appeal.
The BBC has contacted Mr. Streisand for a comment.
The famous family was one of the inspirations behind the hugely popular TV series Succession – something the Murdochs have always refused to comment on.
But according to the New York Times report, based on a copy of the sealed court order, the billionaire’s children had begun discussing their father’s death and how they would handle it after an episode of the HBO series in which “the patriarch of the family dies and leaving his family and business in chaos”.
The episode led to Elisabeth’s representative to the trust writing a “‘Successions’ memo” trying to prevent this from happening in real life, reports said.
Murdoch, who has been married five times, also has two younger children, Grace and Chloe, who have no voting rights under the trust agreement.
The case was launched after Mr. Murdoch decided to change the trust over concerns about a “lack of consensus” among the children, the Times reported.
Lachan is believed to be more conservative than his siblings and wanted to maintain the legacy of his media brands.
From the 1960s, Mr. Murdoch built his media empire into a worldwide media giant with great political and public influence.
His two companies are News Corporation, which owns newspapers including the Times and the Sun in the UK and the Wall Street Journal in the US, and Fox, which broadcasts Fox News.
Murdoch had groomed his two sons to follow in his footsteps, starting when they were teenagers, journalist Andrew Neil told the 2020 BBC documentary The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty.
“Family has always been very important to Rupert Murdoch, particularly from the point of view of forming a dynasty,” said the former Sunday Times editor.
In 1999, the Murdoch Family Trust, which owns the media companies, had to largely liquidate the succession plans.
This led to Mr. Murdoch gave his eldest children various jobs in his companies.
The trust gives the family eight votes that it can use to influence the boards of News Corp and Fox News.
Murdoch currently controls four of those votes, with his eldest children in charge of one each.
The trust agreement stated that when Mr. If Murdoch died, his votes would be passed on equally to his four eldest children.
But differences in opinion and political views were said to lead to a family rift.
The battle for changes to the trust was not about money, but rather power and control over the future of the Murdoch empire.
The commissioner’s decision is not final, the Times reports. The trial acts as a recommended solution, but a district judge will still consider and may choose to rule differently.
Additional reporting by Michelle Fleury and Charlotte Edwards