Future direction of Fox News hanging in the balance.
Murdoch has 4 children, 3 are more centrist and then one (Lachlan) is to the right of Rupert. Lachlan is currently in charge and he and his father were responsible for the Dominion voting situation. Rupert is trying to change a trust that divided the shares evenly between the four kids to going to Lachlan - to carry on Rupert’s vision.
The messy Murdoch succession drama, explained
It’s a case that could have big implications for the future of Fox News.
by Li Zhou
Sep 16, 2024 at 4:40 PM EDT
https://www.vox.com/politics/372145/murdoch-succession-court-case-rupert-lachlan
Rupert Murdoch stepped back from running his empire in 2023, and handed the role of chair of News Corp to his eldest son, Lachlan, who also stayed on as CEO of Fox Corp, and is seen as the Murdoch child most politically aligned with his father’s conservative viewpoints.
Upon Rupert Murdoch’s death, however, the voting shares he holds in the companies are set to be split evenly among the four children he had in his second marriage to Anna Murdoch Mann — including Lachlan. In a new court case set to begin this week, Rupert Murdoch is now pushing to amend the previously established trust to give the bulk of this power to Lachlan.
At stake is the ideological future of Fox News and News Corp: Unlike Lachlan, the other three elder Murdoch siblings — James, Elisabeth, and Prudence — are viewed as more centrist, and could take the family’s media outlets in a more moderate direction. That concern is among those that spurred Rupert Murdoch to pursue this court action, and to shift more control to the child he sees as most likely to carry on his vision.
-snip-
The outcome will be determined by Nevada probate commissioner Edmund Gorman in a closed Reno court. The trust, which was created in 1999 around Murdoch and Murdoch Mann’s divorce proceedings, was designed to be “irrevocable,” or quite difficult to change. In order to make the amendment, Rupert Murdoch will have to demonstrate that the alteration is to the benefit of all of his heirs.
I will be on the lookout for what happens in this case.
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