In 1999, Rupert Murdoch agreed to an “irrevocable” family trust that would equally distribute control of his media empire to his four eldest children (Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan, and James) upon his death. Some 25 years later — at the age of 93 — the media magnate has changed his mind. Today, he begins a battle in court to revoke the trust and give full control of his empire to his eldest son, Lachlan, at the time of his passing.
That quarter-century has apparently parted the family ideologically. Lachlan (Rupert’s third child, second from left in the picture above) has always echoed his father’s right-wing conservative ideologies. His brother James (far right) and two sisters, Prudence (far left) and Elisabeth, however, have steered away from such right-wing exactitude.
James resigned from the board of News Corp. in 2020 due to “disagreements over certain editorial content published.” With his elder brother Lachlan and his father Rupert, the three were once considered the most powerful triumvirate in Western media. But James’s left-leaning views clashed too greatly with the staunchly right-wing narrative propagated by the family’s media empire.
James has been an advocate for climate change issues and a supporter of the Democratic Party with a public stance against Trump. Fox News, however, is a close ally of the Trump narrative and provides a robust platform for fossil fuel evangelists and climate change denialists. Such differences were too great for the then-47-year-old to reconcile, which ultimately led him to part ways with the family business.
Rupert’s first child, Prudence (now 66), has historically kept her distance from her father’s empire and maintained a low political profile. Second child Elisabeth (now 56) was much more involved in the family business, along with younger brothers James and Lachlan (now 51 and 53). Elisabeth has been reported to be uncomfortable with being associated with the views of Fox News, but like her sister, her political dispositions are somewhat nebulous.
The heated ‘battle between the heirs’ has historically been between the two younger boys, Lachlan and James. They are the closest of kin chronologically, but they couldn’t be further from each other ideologically. As alma maters of Princeton and Harvard, both brothers seemed more academically ambitious than their two sisters, who did not embark on the Ivy League route. Their duel for ultimate control became most apparent in 2015, when father Rupert made every division report to the two brothers jointly — essentially bestowing each with the confusing title of ‘top co-decision maker.’
With time running out for Rupert, this battle for the top job is now entering its pinnacle. If it were up to him, Lachlan would be the ultimate decision-maker in News Corp. and Fox Corp., along with all their narrative propagations. But it is up to the court system in Nevada (of all places) to decide whether the 93-year-old can rewrite the “irrevocable” trust he agreed to a quarter-century ago.
What is at stake is nothing short of one of the most powerful and far-reaching media conglomerates on Earth. The narratives dictated by the Murdoch media assets have the capacity to alter mass opinion and ultimately shape Western politics.
News Corp. controls influential newspapers in the US (The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post), the UK (The Sun, The Times, and the Sunday Times), and Australia (The Australian, The Herald Sun, and The Daily Telegraph), as well as publishing giant HarperCollins. Fox News is a powerful voice in US news that has partly been responsible for the widespread reach of Trump’s rhetoric.
What is most telling about this dynastic telenovela, however, is the 93-year-old’s decision to rock the family boat so disruptively at the tail-end of his mortality. It is bewildering why — at such a doddering stage of life — he would wish to have it his way once again. Perhaps this is the uncompromising mindset that made him successful in the first place. It may be in the heart of every self-made billionaire to triumph in the world of commerce at all cost, even at the expense of familial collegiality.
In Rupert Murdoch’s calculus, rocking the boat only makes perfect sense. By any material standards, Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan, and James are already well off. They will all live lives of abundance and prosperity. It is his other two children who are still plaguing him. It is their future that he is worried about. In truth, all of this was never about Lachlan or James. It is about Fox Corp. and News Corp.