Loading

Overnight, details of a legal stoush fracturing the Murdoch family emerged in The New York Times, revealing the recently married Murdoch snr’s attempts to amend the terms of his family trust and hand control to Lachlan because he felt his eldest son would keep the media businesses more conservative after his death and preserve their profitability.

The move, due to play out in a court in Reno, Nevada, in September, has split the siblings, with the more politically moderate Prudence, Elisabeth and James aligning to prevent total control falling into the hands of Lachlan.

The explosive report outlined sealed documents revealing Murdoch snr’s plans to expand his eldest son’s voting power in the Murdoch Family Trust, which would mean he could not be challenged by his siblings.

The trust controls the Murdoch family’s shares in the News Corp and Fox Corp empires, which include Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, The Times in the UK and local mastheads including The Australian, the Herald Sun and The Daily Telegraph.

Loading

The family trust is “irrevocable”. However, it is said to contain a provision that allows for changes to be made in good faith if they have the sole purpose of benefiting all the beneficiaries. It currently has eight votes, four of those being controlled by Murdoch himself, with the other four held by his four eldest children.

“He is arguing in court that only by empowering Lachlan to run the company without interference from his more politically moderate siblings can he preserve its conservative editorial bent, and thus protect its commercial value for all his heirs,” the report said.

The Australian-born media mogul has been married five times and has six children. He had Prudence Murdoch with his first wife, Patricia Booker, while Elisabeth, Lachlan and James came from his second marriage to Anna Torv. Murdoch also has two children with his third wife, Wendi Deng.

Murdoch’s fourth marriage to model Jerry Hall ended in 2022 after six years. In June, he tied the knot for the fifth time, with Moscow-born Elena Zhukova in a vineyard at his estate in Bel-Air, California.