The real-life “Succession” battle for Rupert Murdoch’s media empire ended when a Nevada court commissioner denied the billionaire’s request to change the family trust and give power to his eldest son.
The case pitted the 93-year-old woman against her three children over who would get control of News Corp and Fox News if she died.
It was reported that Mr Murdoch wanted to amend the family trust set up in 1999 to allow his son Lachlan to take control without “interference” from his siblings Prudence, Elisabeth and James.
The Nevada commissioner ruled that Mr Murdoch and Lachlan acted in “bad faith” and called the efforts “a carefully crafted act”. according to the New York Times.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for Prudence, Elisabeth and James said: “We welcome Commissioner Gorman’s decision and hope we can move beyond this case to focus on strengthening and rebuilding relationships between all family members.”
Adam Streisand, Mr Murdoch’s lawyer, told The New York Times they were disappointed and planned to appeal.
The BBC has contacted Mr Streisand for comment.
The famous family was one of the inspirations behind the hit TV series Succession – something the Murdochs have always refused to comment on.
But according to a report by the New York Times, based on a copy of the sealed court decision, the billionaire’s children had begun to discuss 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, leaving his family and his business in chaos.”
The episode led to Elisabeth’s representative at the trust writing a “‘succession’ memo” that sought to prevent this from happening in real life, reports said.
Mr Murdoch, who has been married five times, also has two young children, Grace and Chloe, who do not have voting rights under the trust agreement.
The case was launched after Mr Murdoch decided to change the trust due to concerns about the children’s “disagreement”, The Times reported.
Lachan is thought to be more conservative than his siblings and will retain the legacy of his media brands.
Since the 1960s, Mr. Murdoch built a global media giant with enormous political and social 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.
Mr Murdoch was grooming his two sons to follow in his footsteps, starting when they were teenagers, journalist Andrew Neil told the BBC’s 2020 documentary The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty.
“Family has always been very important to Rupert Murdoch, especially when looking at building a dynasty,” said the former editor of the Sunday Times.
In 1999, the Murdoch Family Trust, which owns media companies, had to largely resolve succession plans.
It led to Mr Murdoch giving his older children various jobs in his companies.
The trust gives the family eight votes, which they can use to have a say on the boards of News Corp and Fox News.
Mr Murdoch currently controls four of those votes, with his eldest children holding one each.
The trust agreement said that if Mr Murdoch died, his votes would be passed on to his four eldest children equally.
However, differences of opinion and political views are said to have led to the separation of the family.
The battle for change in loyalty was not money, but rather power and control over the future of the Murdoch regime.
The commissioner’s decision is not final, the Times reported. The appeals court acts as a recommended decision but the district judge will still consider it and may choose to issue a different decision.
Additional reporting by Michelle Fleury and Charlotte Edwards
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