Perhaps it was expected that this fall's dramatic courtroom battle would settle the family drama once and for all.
Rupert MurdochFlanked by lawyers and his fifth wife, the 93-year-old appeared in Reno, Nevada, last September to fight three of his children over control of his assets when he dies. It was presented as a TV-worthy conclusion to decades of conflicts and shifting loyalties within the family.
instead of, This week's ruling From the Nevada probate court, the fate of the Murdoch empire was left more troubling and uncertain than ever. The Probate Commissioner flatly rejected Rupert's attempt to amend the irrevocable family trust and consolidate power around his son Lachlan Murdoch. Robert is expected to appeal the decision.
The result created a bitter stalemate between… Warring factions Several people close to the situation, from the Marduk clan, said.
The dispute centers on a trust established in 1998 that stipulates that upon Rupert Murdoch's death, control of the family assets will be divided equally between four of his children: Lachlan, James, Elizabeth and Prudence. The four siblings will decide what to do with the family's global empire of television, newspapers, book publishing, streaming and real estate, holdings collectively worth about $40 billion on the public stock market.
Although relations between James Murdoch and his father have cooled in recent years, he and his sisters expected that after Rupert's death, there would be a “reasonable discussion” about how the assets would be divided and who might manage them, people familiar with the matter said. The command.
However, Robert's move – which surprised the other children – created “a lot of bad blood,” said a person close to James.
The situation has developed into a “family dispute,” the source said, adding that James “doesn't have a plan.” Instead, the feeling is: “I don't know what I want, but I don't want the other to take it,” the person said.
Rupert Murdoch moved to consolidate Lachlan's power partly because he feared his other sons would change the company from its fundamentally conservative image, people familiar with the case said. He criticized James in particular Fox News In the United States. But that was a “false narrative,” said one person familiar with the siblings’ thinking.
The person close to James dismissed speculation that Murdoch's more liberal son might try to take over Fox News and change its policies after his father's death.
“He doesn't want to be the guy who heads Fox News. He's smart enough to know that if he changed the position of Fox News, it would be death. Because the power of Fox News comes from the ideological position it has.”
The source added that James “wants fair value for Fox.” Fox Corp is worth more than $20 billion on the stock market.
Other major assets at risk are News Corp, owner of newspapers including the Wall Street Journal and the Sunday Times, and book publisher HarperCollins. The Murdoch family's total wealth is more than $6 billion. The fund controls about 40 percent of the voting shares in Fox and News Corp, and 17 percent of the economic shares in each of the two companies.
The family chaos has left bankers and analysts speculating about whether Rupert Murdoch might choose to sell his assets before his death, to avoid leaving them to his feuding children.
“We believe there is close to a zero percent chance that Robert will want to leave Earth while leaving the future of the assets he spent his life building in limbo,” said Rich Greenfield, an analyst at LightShed.
He expected the situation to be resolved in one of two ways. The first is for Lachlan to raise capital to buy out his three siblings, which is likely to be expensive due to the “control premium”.
If Lachlan is unable to conclude a purchase deal, the other course is to auction off the assets. Can Elon Musk buy Fox News for $20 billion? “It's not a crazy idea,” Greenfield said.
One person familiar with the court ruling said Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch “are not expected to surrender.”
“Could they try to buy off the siblings? This has been tried before. I think they are trying to figure out how to achieve their goal through different means. Everything is still a work in progress.”
Greenfield said he expected Murdoch would want to sell his business after Donald Trump takes office to gain “easier regulatory approval” by a more business-friendly administration.
Claire Enders, a media analyst at Enders Analysis, said there had been repeated attempts to buy out James's stake in the fund over the past six years, but there had never been an acceptable deal for both sides. She added that Robert is “not a man to give up.”
Shareholders are concerned that disputes in the family trust will create uncertainty about the future direction of the business. Activist investor Starboard Value argued earlier this year that the four Murdoch siblings “are said to have widely different worldviews that, taken together, could cripple News Corp’s strategic direction.”
Members of the Murdoch family are still expected to extend an olive branch to their father despite the anger over his attempted coup, people familiar with the matter said.
“It has always been about protecting the rights under the trust. It is now about restoring some harmony, or as much as possible,” said one person close to the group. “The three brothers want to put this behind them.”
Enders expected Elizabeth to lead efforts to reach a breakthrough between the two sides: “It is believed that she took the initiative in previous disputes and crises that required reconciliation efforts between her father and his children.”
However, those close to the situation say that while families often use Christmas as a time to get together, the chances of the Murdochs gathering around the tree this year appear very slim.
