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Rupert Murdoch has moved to hand control of his family trust to his eldest son, Lachlan, sparking a bitter legal war between his children that could determine the direction of two of the world’s most powerful media businesses.
The 93-year-old media baron has sought to overhaul an irrevocable family trust to give Lachlan full control of its voting powers and decision-making after the patriarch’s death, according to three people familiar with the situation. Lachlan had already assumed the leadership of Fox and News Corp last year when his father stood down as chair of the businesses behind Fox News, The Times and The Australian.
The billionaire news mogul has tried to enshrine this move by amending the trust that holds the family’s interests in the two companies, these people said. Control of the entity was supposed to be split between his four eldest children — Lachlan, James, Elisabeth and Prudence — when he dies.
One person said the move appeared to be an attempt “to disenfranchise the three children . . . they would be powerless”.
However, a Nevada probate commissioner has ruled that a court hearing would decide whether the amendments to the trust are in good faith and for the sole benefit of Murdoch’s children, the people said. The hearing is expected in September.
The family rift and commissioner decision was first reported by The New York Times, which said Murdoch had argued that he was acting to protect the value of the businesses to the benefit of his heirs.
The move has reignited long-simmering tensions in the family, with James already estranged from his father after being passed over in a succession battle with Lachlan.
James and his sisters are more politically moderate than their father and eldest brother, people familiar with the family say. The proposed changes to the trust are designed to cement a conservative direction for Fox and News Corp news outlets in the future, including the right-leaning Fox News, people familiar with the matter said.
James, in particular, has distanced himself from the direction taken by his father and elder brother since he stepped down as Fox’s chief executive in 2019 and left the News Corp board in 2020. He backed Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign and has criticised media groups that act as “enablers [for] toxic politics”.
The attempt to change the voting balance of the trust challenges a delicate status quo that has existed since it was set up following Rupert’s 1999 divorce from Anna Torv, the mother of Lachlan, Elisabeth and James. Each will have an equal voting right after the death of their father. Grace and Chloe, the children from his marriage to Wendi Deng, have an economic interest in the trust but no voting control.
Given their voting rights, Lachlan’s three eldest siblings could in theory combine to block his decisions after Rupert’s death. A person close to the situation said that while the three had joined forces to oppose their father’s move, they were not necessarily as aligned on wider matters. They are jointly represented by Gary Bornstein, co-head of litigation at Cravath, Swaine & Moore.
“This is not the intention of the trust that was set up,” said the person, who pointed to the origins to the structure insisted on by Anna as part of her divorce from Rupert. “It’s not what the family had agreed.”
Murdoch watchers were already speculating about a family rift after James, Elisabeth and Prudence were absent from Rupert’s most recent wedding this summer. The trust had already explored options to buy out James after Fox sold its 21st Century Fox entertainment assets to Disney, according to people involved at the time.
Representatives for Rupert Murdoch and Fox directed inquiries to Adam Streisand, a lawyer at Sheppard Mullin. Representatives for James and Elisabeth Murdoch declined to comment.
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