Rupert Murdoch’s Succession-style court battle over the future of his media empire has begun in the United States, with the media and public barred from the hearings.
The 93-year-old tycoon wants to hand control of his businesses, including Fox News and newspaper group News Corp, to his eldest son Lachlan, 53.
But he is being challenged in court by his other children, Prudence, 65, Elisabeth, 55, and James, 51, who would see their stake in the media empire diminished.
In scenes reminiscent of HBO hit show Succession — which is loosely based on the Murdoch dynasty — the warring family arrived in a convoy of black vehicles hired from a firm named Presidential.
Photographers outside the court in Reno, Nevada, were watched by five armed court guards as well as private security personnel.
First to appear were Prudence, James and Elisabeth with their respective partners, Alasdair Macleod, Kathryn Hufschmid and Keith Tyson. Following on in a group of three SUVs was Rupert, holding hands with his fifth wife Elena Zhukova, and Lachlan with his wife Sarah. The tycoon’s legal team is believed to be led by former US attorney general Bill Barr, with an astonishing 79 lawyers signed up for the case.
Currently, under the terms of a trust, all four children have an equal vote over the direction of their father’s $15 billion empire, which includes The Times and The Sun as well as the New York Post, Wall Street Journal and Fox News.
Rupert wants Lachlan to be able to outvote his siblings in future, and is said to be worried that Prudence, Elisabeth and James would push Fox News in a more liberal direction. The court has been selected due to its privacy rules, and media outlets who asked to watch the five-day hearing were denied access.
It is expected that evidence will be heard on Rupert’s bid to show that handing control to Lachlan is being done in good faith and for the future benefit of the business.
The trust cannot be changed without permission from the beneficiaries or through a court order.
Alice Enders, head of research at Enders Analysis, told the BBC the court battle was “about commercial interests”.
“The solution would of course have been either for the siblings to have agreed to the change or more likely than not have been bought out in some way, but the price of buying them out is astronomical and Lachlan would have had to assume it just the same as Rupert bought out his siblings many years ago.”
