The messy Murdoch succession drama, explained

The Murdochs — the real-life media family that inspired HBO’s Succession — are currently navigating a court case that could rival any fictional drama. 

The family, led by 93-year-old patriarch Rupert Murdoch, controls a vast, global news organization that includes the Wall Street Journal and the Times of London, as well as Fox News in the United States. When it comes to Fox News in particular, Rupert Murdoch has exercised a great level of editorial control, helping to shape the network’s coverage — and, as a result, conservative political narratives in the US.

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.

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. 

Whether he succeeds could have a major impact, both on the future of the outlets in his media empire, and on the role they play in shaping US and global politics. 

What this could all mean for the future of Fox News

Fox News, which Rupert Murdoch first founded in 1996, has become a mainstay for conservative cable news, and is known for elevating former President Donald Trump as well as misinformation about everything from election interference to climate change. In 2023, Fox paid Dominion Voting Systems $787 million after it was sued for amplifying lies suggesting that the company’s machines were rigged against a Trump win. 

During that lawsuit, documents came out indicating that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch knew Trump’s claims the election was stolen were lies, but chose to do nothing to discourage them. Instead, they decided to focus on deepening viewers’ trust of Fox News, seemingly by broadcasting what Trump’s supporters wanted to hear.

As of now, Rupert Murdoch holds a 40 percent voting share in both News Corp and Fox Corp, and under the existing trust, each of the four siblings would get an equal fraction of this when he passes away. 

If Rupert Murdoch wins the Reno court case, and Lachlan gains the majority of these shares, the network could well continue, and even expand, its conservative approach. “It’s important to note that Lachlan’s politics are far more conservative than his father,” Hollywood Reporter special correspondent Lachlan Cartwright previously said on The New Abnormal podcast. In that scenario, his siblings would still receive financial inheritances, but they would have much less say in the media outlets’ future, much like Rupert’s two youngest daughters, Grace and Chloe, from his third marriage to Wendi Deng. 

If the trust stays as is, however, there’s a possibility that James, Elisabeth, and Prudence work together to moderate the network’s tone. 

James, in particular, has notably broken with his father publicly, including resigning from his position on the News Corp board in 2020. He and his wife Kathryn have also previously issued statements expressing disappointment in the climate change denial pushed by News Corp entities in Australia, and he’s condemned the media’s “lies” for contributing to the January 6 insurrection, though he stopped short of naming Fox News explicitly. 

Rupert Murdoch has said that the possible changes in ideological direction — as well as potential disagreement among the siblings about next steps — could harm the company, and are some of the main reasons he’s trying to reopen the trust. According to the Wall Street Journal, those close to the Murdochs have also flagged concerns that James could urge a sale of Fox News. Allies to the other three siblings, meanwhile, argue that Fox Corp has suffered under Lachlan’s leadership, including setbacks like the Dominion case. 

In the past, James, Elisabeth, and Prudence have also suggested proposals that would involve Rupert and Lachlan buying out the shares of the other family members, though those have fallen through. 

All told, the messy court case is poised to have serious ramifications for the Murdoch family members — and for the broader state of media as well.