On the 21st, Rupert Murdoch (92), who built a media empire on both sides of the Atlantic and in Australia, announced in November that he would step down from the boards of News Corp and Foxcorp, the two companies he had run directly for 70 years.
News Corporation is a newspaper and publishing company that owns the Wall Street Journal and New York Post in the U.S., the Times and Sun in the U.K., Australian newspapers, and major publishing company Harper Collins. Fox Corporation is a 24-hour news channel, Fox. It is a broadcasting company that owns news, Fox Sports, and comprehensive channel Fox TV.
With Murdoch’s announcement today, his eldest son Lachlan (52) will become the sole chairman of News Corp, following Foxcorp, where he already holds the positions of chairman and CEO. The eldest son took over all of the Murdoch family’s newspaper, publishing and TV broadcasting divisions.
But American media experts say the future of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, which he built throughout his life, could undergo major changes after his death.
Eldest son Lachlan (left) and second son James Murdoch attending their father Rupert Murdoch’s third wedding held at St. Bride’s Church in London, England in 2016/Reuters Yonhap News
In the background, there is antagonism between the eldest son and the second son, James (50), who was pushed out of the succession competition. Although the two were born from their father Murdoch’s second wife, their political ideologies and views on the media are completely different. The father and eldest son are extremely conservative, but the second son is more liberal. It is said that the brothers do not even talk to each other.
After his death, Murdoch’s four voting votes in the family trust that currently controls the two companies will be distributed to each of his four children, including his eldest son, second son, and two daughters. Therefore, depending on how the brothers form alliances, the eldest son Lachlan’s status can be greatly shaken.
There is already a lot of speculation that the second son, James, will join forces with his sisters and try to cause a ‘brothers’ rebellion’ after his father’s death. He often told his acquaintances, “I will join my sisters and transform Fox News into a more center-right media outlet.”
◇He made his children compete, but his ‘inner heart’ was the eldest son.
His father, Murdoch, ostensibly advocated Darwin’s survival of the fittest and made his children compete. Murdoch was married four times. From his first marriage he had a daughter Prudence (65), from his second marriage a daughter Elizabeth (55) and two sons Lachlan and James.
In addition, he has two daughters, Grace (22) and Chloe (20), with his third wife, Wendy Deng, but they are college students and do not have voting rights in the family trust.
It is said that Elizabeth was the most capable. But Murdoch wanted primogeniture. Elizabeth left her father’s company and founded her own successful TV production company.
Lachlan, the eldest son, had many things in common with his father, including right-wing tendencies, passion for newspapers, and love for his native Australia, so he monopolized his father’s love and expectations. However, Lachlan enjoyed rock climbing and wanted a more leisurely life. Eventually, in 2005, after clashing with CEO Roger Ailes, his father’s Fox News business partner, he left his father’s company and went to Australia.
The natural successor was the second son, James. He was considered very smart, and while growing up at Fox TV, he pursued the company’s zero-carbon emissions policy. He has grown brands such as video streaming service Hulu and the National Geographic Channel. However, he was a liberal and wanted Murdoch’s news company to become a medium respected even by the liberal elite. Naturally, he clashed frequently with his father.
Eventually, in 2015, the father persuaded his eldest son, who was living comfortably in Australia, to bring him back to the company. The eldest son became co-chairman of Foxcorp with his father Murdoch. His second son, James, took over as CEO of Foxcorp, but his acquaintances say, “James accepted in shame that the company he had worked so hard to build would go to his older brother.”
James left his father’s company a few years later and started an investment company called ‘lupa’ that invested in liberal media companies. Lupa is the name of the mother wolf who raised twins Romulus and Remus in the founding myth of Rome. According to the myth, Romulus kills Remus and becomes the first king of Rome.
HBO’s drama ‘Succession’, which deals with the secret struggle of a media family. It is said to be very similar to the story of Rupert Murdoch’s family. /HBO
Succession, an American black comedy drama currently airing on HBO, closely resembles the secret struggle of Rupert Murdoch’s family. Despite this, the older and younger brothers accuse each other of leaking the inside story of their family to the drama writer.
◇My older brother supports Trump, my younger brother supports Biden
The two sons had a major conflict when their father, Murdoch, sold 21st Century Fox, Foxcorp’s film and TV studio and entertainment industry division, to Disney for $71 billion in 2017.
My father thought it was an opportunity to go all-in on newspapers, news, and TV broadcasting. His second son, James, who worked at Fox Corp., had an implicit agreement with Disney Chairman Bob Iger to work for Disney-owned 21st Century Fox if the sale went through. He thought he would break away from his father, who ‘only looked at the eldest son’, and show off his skills to the fullest.
The eldest son, Lachlan, thought differently. When his father persuaded him to reluctantly return, his father and younger brother were fiercely opposed to it, thinking that he was selling off a large chunk of what would later become his ‘kingdom’. Lachlan openly told them, “If we go through with this deal, I will never talk to you two again.” His sense of crisis was so great that he suffered a panic attack and had to be treated at a hospital near Los Angeles.
However, the deal went through, and the eldest son, Lachlan, became the chief operating officer (COO) of News Corp and Fox Corp. The second son left his father’s company.
Rupert Murdoch had deep ties with the powerful in the US and UK, including Trump. The Times, which he owns, supported not only Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher but also Labor Party Tony Blair in the 1997 and 2001 general elections.
Rupert Murdoch used his influence in the media to prevent Trump from being nominated in the 2016 Republican primary, but became close to Trump once he became president. However, when Trump claimed election fraud in the 2020 US presidential election, he called it “crazy stuff” in an email to his associates. / Reuters Yonhap News
Lachlan keeps his distance from this kind of networking, but he is conservative. His father, Murdoch, attacks liberal Democratic Party figures as “bureaucrats and elites who only care about their own interests.” His eldest son, Lachlan, is also expected to lead Fox News in the direction of supporting Donald Trump, who is likely to become the Republican presidential candidate in the 2024 US presidential election.
On the contrary, James, the second son, tells people around him that “Fox News is a threat to American democracy by spreading white supremacy and election fraud conspiracy theories and denying climate change.” He resigned from News Corp’s board of directors in 2020, saying, “I am resigning because I have disagreements with the news outlet’s editorial direction and some strategic decisions.”
He indirectly referred to Fox News regarding the mob invasion of the U.S. Congress building on January 6, 2021, and said, “It was because of the news media that spread lies to viewers about election fraud.”
The James couple donated more than $1 million to Democratic candidate Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
◇The whereabouts of the child are unknown.
The second son, James, persuades his two older sisters to secure control of Foxcorp and News Corp and tells those around him that he will change the media’s bias from the current right-wing bias to the center-right.
Meanwhile, some acquaintances of the eldest son Lachlan say, “It is questionable whether he continues to want this throne,” and “He took charge of the company out of a sense of duty to his father, but we will not know what will happen after his death.” Lachlan says he still goes to the indoor rock climbing gym every day.
Rupert Murdoch’s family tree/AP Yonhap News
However, the two older sisters do not reveal their position at all. Elizabeth’s political leanings are liberal, but she is close to her fathers Rupert and Lachlan. She even went to the extent of watching the Super Bowl game with the three of them. He also said that when, in 2011, the News of the World, a newspaper owned by Murdoch in the UK, was revealed to have had a reporter eavesdropping on celebrities and politicians, and the newspaper was eventually put out of business, he held her father responsible and told him to fire James.
Prudence, the eldest daughter born with his first wife, has completely broken up with the family business, so his vote is a ‘wild card’ whose direction is unknown. Currently, his second son James is a ‘lone wolf’.
◇Father Murdoch once said, “I am convinced of immortality.”
Rupert Murdoch’s wealth is estimated to be between $8.26 billion (Bloomberg) and $17.4 billion (Forbes). His mother died at the age of 103. After beating prostate cancer in 2000, Murdoch said, “Now I know for sure that I am immortal.” He also wrote in his resignation letter from the board of directors on the 21st, “Our company is as strong as I am.”
Murdoch predicted that interest in the company would remain even after becoming honorary chairman.
“I will be very critical of the broadcasting, newspapers and news websites we publish, read the books we publish with great interest, and advise you of my thoughts and ideas. “You may find me in your country office on Friday late afternoon.”
However, in recent years, Murdoch has suffered from illnesses both large and small. It is said that in June of last year, he was infected with the coronavirus and was hospitalized for over a week, literally putting himself on the verge of death. In recent years, he has suffered two bouts of pneumonia, a fractured spine, heart fibrillation and a ruptured Achilles tendon.
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2023-09-23 07:30:00
