When it comes to the Murdochs, there really is never a dull moment.
At the same time as the family is consumed by the secret litigation in Nevada over control of the Murdoch Family Trust, Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch remain firmly in control of Fox Corp while Fox News tries to balance slavishly backing an increasingly wild Donald Trump with clinging to some semblance of fact-based journalism.
But there’s plenty more to deal with. Last night, News Corp’s 61%-owned, ASX-listed real estate business REA Group finally surrendered on its $12 billion takeover bid for its UK equivalent Rightmove, after having already sweetened the offer three times during a month-long charm offensive. This would have been one of the Murdoch empire’s biggest acquisitions, but instead joins a slew of failed takeovers including BSkyB and the rejected US$80 billion offer for Time Warner in 2014.
Elsewhere, while most Australians were sleeping ahead of the AFL grand final, Fox Corp, ahead of the upcoming annual meeting of stockholders at the Fox Studios lot in Los Angeles, dropped its 80-page proxy statement.
On page 46, the executive pay figures for 2023-24 are disclosed in full. Rupert Murdoch, 93, might have departed all public boards in November last year, but his final Fox Corp executive pay figure came in at US$21.2 million, comprising US$1.9 million in salary, a cash bonus of US$2.3 million, US$6.5 million in stock awards (as if he needs any more), US$2.1 million in option awards and a US$8.1 million increase in the net present value of his pension liability up until his death.
But Rupert wasn’t the highest-paid Murdoch, because eldest son Lachlan, 53, received a total package worth US$23.8 million as Fox Corp’s sole executive chair, which included US$142,793 for “personal use of the corporate aircraft” and US$1.6 million for “residential security”. None of the other five named key Fox executives billed the company for residential security.
However, for blockbuster Murdoch-approved executive payouts, the real showstopper this year is Viet Dinh, the former chief lawyer at Fox who took the rap for the embarrassing Dominion settlement worth US$787.5 million, but who had his exit smoothed by a US$23 million “severance payment” and a total package worth US$27.23 million.
As I noted when Dinh’s departure was announced in January this year, he had racked up more than US$100 million in salary, bonuses and severance payments during his six years in the role, serving in what US media suggested was more of a CEO-like position given Lachlan’s long absences in Sydney.
This doesn’t compare with the frankly outrageous A$1.84 billion that Murdoch men have taken in salary and bonuses from public companies they’ve controlled since 1998, but it’s ridiculous nonetheless for an in-house lawyer.
The Daily Mail claimed there were “nearly 80 lawyers” working on the Murdoch Family Trust fight in Nevada. Given that Viet Dinh is godfather to Lachlan’s son Aidan, it wouldn’t surprise if he was offering assistance in that battle.
Viet Dinh’s LinkedIn profile doesn’t suggest he’s taken on any other corporate gigs since departing last December. But the Fox Corp proxy statement disclosed he was paid US$1.25 million in consulting fees in 2023-24, which is more than the roughly $500,000 a year that Tony Abbott is pocketing as one of just six Fox Corp non-executive directors.
After 10 months on his first public company board, Abbott has so far only joined the nomination and corporate governance committee. He is thus effectively one of the gatekeepers selecting any future additions to the Fox Corp board, which is the key power over which the family is currently fighting.
There was minimal opposition to Abbott’s initial election to the Fox Corp board last year, with just 1.66 million shares voted against. Compare that with Lachlan’s 32.36 million voted against and former Republican House speaker Paul Ryan’s 53.44 million voted against.
But none of this matters as long Rupert Murdoch controls the 102.2 million Fox Corp voting shares sitting inside the Murdoch Family Trust, and continues to vote this controlling 43.39% stake in favour of his hand-picked directors — which, as things stand today, includes the Sydney-based duo of Lachlan and his close friend Tony.
Rupert could vote them both off the board at the November 19 annual meeting if he wanted, but for the time being, they are entrusted to protect his legacy and keep those huge Fox News profits rolling in, regardless of how much the reactionary right-wing content upsets his other adult children.
