Rupert Murdoch’s children started ‘secretly discussing’ the future of his empire after seeing a ‘Succession’ episode

On Saturday, a Nevada commissioner ruled against Murdoch’s attempt to change his family’s trust to put his eldest son, Lachlan, in charge of the media empire and solidify Fox News’ right-wing editorial swing, according to a sealed court document obtained by the New York Times. Murdoch, 93, had already named Lachlan as his corporate successor when he stepped down last year as chairman of Fox News and News Corp.

The drama of what would happen to Murdoch’s power and wealth (which is estimated at about $12 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index) has unfolded both in real life and on the screens in HBO’s hit television show Succession. While the TV show isn’t an outright depiction of the Murdoch family, there are several close ties, including a main character, Logan Roy, who is an aging media titan. Both Murdoch and Roy “encourage their children to compete to be their successor, though they seemingly have no intention of ever dying, let alone retiring,” according to New York magazine. 

The show had enough impact, though, on some of Murdoch’s children to encourage them to take action on their father’s succession plans. In September, Murdoch and his four eldest children—Lachlan, James, Elisabeth, and Prudence—met with several trust representatives for days of sealed, in-person testimony. The proceedings from this testimony revealed Murdoch’s children had started “secretly discussing the public-relations strategy for their father’s death in April 2023,” according to the NYT. And what reportedly kicked off the discussions was an episode of Succession in which the patriarch of the family dies. 

This episode reportedly prompted Elisabeth’s representative to the trust, Mark Devereux, to write a “Succession” memo “intended to help avoid a real-life repeat.”

What’s at stake with Murdoch’s media empire

Much like is portrayed in Succession, the Murdochs have a complicated family tree. Rupert Murdoch, the patriarch, has a total of six children, each of which will get a portion of the family fortune. However, the two youngest of Murdoch’s children, Chloe and Grace, whom Murdoch had with his third wife, Wendi Deng, don’t stand to get the same voting power as Lachlan, James, Elisabeth, and Prudence. Murdoch had Prudence with his first wife, Patricia Booker, and Elisabeth, Lachlan, and James share the same mother: Anna Torv, Murdoch’s second wife. The trust was established in 1999 as a compromise amid Murdoch’s divorce with Torv.

While even just a portion of Murdoch’s fortune may seem like enough to cause some family drama, what’s really at stake is voting power for Fox News. 

Lachlan, Murdoch’s eldest son, holds similar political opinions to his father, which makes him Murdoch’s top choice for controlling the media empire after his death—especially since James has regularly had beefs with his father over differing political and business-related views. Plus, James was the only one of Murdoch’s elder children who refused to give him $100 million each as a sign of respect after closing on the sale of Fox entertainment assets to Disney in spring 2019.

But now that the Nevada commissioner, Edmund J. Gorman Jr., has concluded that Murdoch and Lachlan acted in “bad faith” in their effort to change the irrevocable trust, their efforts to solidify Fox News’ and News Corp.’s futures will continue. Gorman called the plan to alter the trust a “carefully crafted charade” to “permanently cement Lachlan Murdoch’s executive roles” despite the impacts it could make on the company or the trust’s beneficiaries, according to the NYT. 

However, Murdoch has argued that maintaining the right-leaning political bent of Fox News and his other media outlets is in the best financial interest of the beneficiaries—and Murdoch and Lachlan plan to appeal, according to the NYT. 

Fox News did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.