Report: Murdoch brings media empire succession fight to Nevada courts

Media titan Rupert Murdoch has taken a hush legal battle against three of his children to Nevada courts to consolidate power and preserve the family empire’s conservative political bent, according to a Wednesday report from The New York Times.

Murdoch, the 93-year-old businessman behind media companies Fox Corp. and News Corp. — the companies that control Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, as well as outlets in Australia and Britain — seeks to change an irrevocable trust that controls company shares, which determine succession at the family’s television networks and newspapers following Murdoch’s death, the Times reports.

The trust currently divides control of the family business between the four oldest children — Lachlan, James, Elisabeth and Prudence — when Murdoch dies, the Times reports. But he’s arguing in court that by empowering only Lachlan, currently the top executive at both companies, to run the businesses, conservative editorial standards and thus commercial value will be retained for the heirs, according to the Times, which said it obtained a 48-page sealed court document in the case.

In June, Nevada probate commissioner Edmund Gorman Jr. found Murdoch could amend the trust if he’s acting in good faith and for the sole benefit of heirs, according to the report. A trial on the subject is scheduled to start in September. The actions are taking place in the Second Judicial District Court in Reno, likely because Nevada has favorable probate laws and privacy protections for family trusts.

When asked about the Murdoch family court proceedings, a spokeswoman for the court told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that all records and information associated with the case are “confidential pursuant to a court order.”

Attorneys for both sides did not respond to a Review-Journal request for comment by publication time. They declined to comment in the Times article.

Elyse Tyrell, a probate lawyer based in Clark County, said she was surprised to hear of the case being brought in Washoe County. She said Nevada is one of the few states that allows for a process called trust decanting, which allows irrevocable trusts to be altered in court under special circumstances.

“I would guess it’s a good tool to have if you can show enough intent of the original creator of the trust that something just got it wrong,” Tyrell said.

Murdoch’s lawyers have argued that he is trying to protect James, Elisabeth and Prudence by ensuring that they won’t be able to moderate Fox’s politics or disrupt its operations with constant fights over leadership. The Times reported that Murdoch was concerned a “lack of consensus” among his children would impact the strategic direction at both companies. His intention in court was to “consolidate decision-making power in Lachlan’s hands and give him permanent, exclusive control.”

But Elisabeth, Prudence and James’ representation argue their father is trying to disenfranchise them, which would violate the spirit of the initial trust’s “equal governance provision.”

“A rational fact finder could find that the determination that the Amendment was in the best interests of the beneficiaries was made with ‘[d]ishonesty of belief, purpose, or motive,’ i.e., in bad faith,” Gorman wrote in the decision, according to the report.

Three of Murdoch’s children could push for different editorial practices in a succession fight, the report states. James Murdoch left Fox in 2019 and stepped down from the News Corp. board in 2020 because of “disagreements over certain editorial content published by the company’s news outlets and certain other strategic decisions,” his resignation letter stated.

Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X. Review-Journal reporter Katelyn Newberg contributed to this report.