The deal that finally settles the real-life succession drama of the Murdoch family was driven by a desire to preserve the animating forces of the media mogul’s remarkable career; power and money.
Rupert Murdoch‘s empire was built on the foundations of a news business that astutely served right-of-centre audiences on three continents. First in his native Australia, then the UK, and finally in America, his titles and channels reflect and sometimes make the political weather.
Preserving that influence and the income that comes with it was his priority when, two years ago, he tried to oust three of his children from a family trust in favour of Lachlan Murdoch, his eldest son who shares his conservative world-view.
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The deal just agreed achieves that goal, but only after a pay-off estimated at more than $1bn each to Lachlan’s siblings Elisabeth and James, and half-sister Prudence, Murdoch’s eldest child from his first marriage.
While Lachlan’s politics matter, the Murdoch enterprise has seldom been ideological. Rupert has long been pragmatic in his endorsements, unapologetically switching horses if he feared he was backing a loser. When his UK titles ditched the Conservatives to support Tony Blair in 1997, they did so long after the electorate had made up its mind.
Lachlan Murdoch. Pic: AP
And while Fox helped create Donald Trump and energise his base, Murdoch is no MAGA-loyalist.
His Wall Street Journal is being sued by the President for revelations about his links to Jeffrey Epstein, and Fox has paid hundreds of millions in damages for false claims about the probity of the 2020 election.
This deal does end the possibility of the more liberally-minded James, a former chief executive of Sky, changing the direction of the US holdings including Fox.
But among investors and executives at Fox and News Corp, which controls The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun, the principal concern has been that a messy succession would lead to the break-up of businesses that between them generated $35bn in revenue last year.
Among Rupert Murdoch’s many attributes perhaps his most valuable has been for sensing and serving the public mood. Lachlan may share his father’s politics, that instinct may not be inheritable.
The succession may be secure, but in a media landscape transformed from the one he helped create, his empire’s dominance is far from guaranteed.
