1 month ago
29
Opinion|To Understand the Murdochs, See ‘Succession’ Season Three, Episode Seven
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/14/opinion/rupert-murdoch-succession-lachlan-james-fox.html
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
Guest Essay
Dec. 14, 2024, 7:00 a.m. ET
Video
By Merissa Marr
Ms. Marr was a consulting producer on the HBO show “Succession.”
In the final season of “Succession,” the HBO drama about a fictional media clan, the show’s grisly patriarch, Logan Roy, dishes out some characteristically choice words to his privileged children: “I love you, but you are not serious people.”
The real-life media billionaire Rupert Murdoch appeared to share similar sentiments, a recent ruling revealed, as he tried to wrestle power from three of his offspring: “I love each of my children,” he said, reading from a statement during a trust meeting. “But these companies need a designated leader and Lachlan is that leader.” Lachlan Murdoch, one assumes, in his father’s mind, is the most serious.
Art imitating life or life imitating art — it gets confusing when it comes to the nonfiction drama being played out by the Murdochs. In last weekend’s ruling on Mr. Murdoch’s failed attempt to change his family trust, one representative was roundly criticized for knowing so little about the Murdochs that he watched “Succession” to brush up. A separate rep, it emerged, took inspiration from the show to draw up a “‘Succession’ memo” on how to navigate the family empire when the now 93-year-old patriarch dies.
Avid “Succession” viewers know how well that turned out for the Roy family. After Logan’s death on a private jet, his wishes were impossible to interpret. (Was that name underlined or crossed out?) In the ensuing power vacuum, his children failed miserably, unable to form any meaningful alliances, and ultimately lost control of the family empire.
So what does the future hold for the Murdochs?
Mr. Murdoch was disappointed that his “objector” children, as they were described in the court proceedings, pushed back when he attempted to change his family trust to cement his eldest son, Lachlan, in control, with the aim of bulletproofing the conservative bent of his media empire. The senior Murdoch seemed to feel that his children should simply respect his wishes for what happens to his empire, and his wealth, when he dies. That included giving up their equal control in the family trust.
The Murdoch heirs are already beyond wealthy, to the tune of $2 billion each, from the sale of the family’s 21st Century Fox assets to Disney. That’s to say nothing of previous multimillion-dollar payments they have received.
