Murdoch fails to amend family trust in court succession saga: Report
Al Jazeera
Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, is seeking to put his son Lachlan in control of the media empire.
A United States probate commissioner has ruled against billionaire media baron Rupert Murdoch‘s bid to change his family trust to put his global television and publishing empire under the control of his eldest son Lachlan, The New York Times has reported.
Nevada commissioner Edmund Gorman concluded that Murdoch and his son Lachlan, who run Fox Corp and News Corp, the owners of Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, had acted in “bad faith” in their effort to amend the irrevocable trust, the Times reported on Monday, citing a sealed court document.
The trust currently would divide control of the company equally among Murdoch’s four oldest children – Lachlan, James, Elisabeth and Prudence – after his death.
In his opinion, Gorman said the plan to change the trust was a “carefully crafted charade” to “permanently cement Lachlan Murdoch’s executive roles” inside the empire “regardless of the impacts such control would have over the companies or the beneficiaries” of the family trust, the Times said.
A lawyer for Rupert Murdoch, Adam Streisand, said they were disappointed with the ruling and intended to appeal, the Times reported.
