“We are clearly approaching the breakdown”: Why the Murdoch -Empire shortly before the bang | Rupert Murdoch

WSome of the mind games and maneuvers that transformed a “retreat” of a Murdoch family into a torture ConsequenceThe TV drama on dispute members of family members of a right-wing media company, members of the Real-Life family, have mutually assume that they have triggered details to the writers. The truth was easier. ConsequenceThe creator, Jesse Armstrong, said his team didn’t need in sources – they just read press reports.

Future screenwriters have given a whole lot of new Murdoch material in the past few days after two amazing stories in the New York Times and the Atlantic Raised the lid to dysfunction, paranoia and despair in the heart of the most powerful family in global media.

The stories followed the end of the secret court proceedings in which the fate of Murdoch Family Trust was involved. The four oldest children in the Mogul – Lachlan, James, Elisabeth and Prudence – should inherit the family company after Rupert’s death. But four years ago, shortly after turning 90, Rupert had tried to cut James, Liz and Prue out of their inheritance and hand over the business to Lachlan, his preferred heir, who also shares his increasingly right -wing politics.

The lawsuit was raised by the three incorrect descendants, and in December a representative of Nevada decided to act in “Bossian faith” in “Bossian faith”. The process was secret, but the Fallout – thanks to the New York Times Investigation and a word 13,000 Atlantic Interview with James – was anything but.

One of the highlights-or the lowlights, when they are a Murdoch, was the revelation that Rupert’s plan, to intend three oldest children, was called “Project Family Harmony”, multibillionaire-trust-Fonds babies “, and This James now viewed his father as “misogyny”. As Jesse Armstrong had said, he didn’t have to make it good again.

The consequences of this Saga family are not only six children (two of his third woman Wendi Deng, he inherits an economic participation), but also from a huge business empire that contains FOX News in the USA, Harpercollins and news, including titles, including the Just and the Sun in Great Britain.

While News UK did not make a comment, a former consultant was angry with the possible effects. “It is difficult to overestimate how unsafe everyone who is connected to the company feels right now. They have some great journalists who do a great job while the billionaires are over even more money. “

The decision of the judge of the family court in Nevada still has to be made to Rupert and Lachlan for approval, but only a few lawyers believe that they will be successful. If the dispute is to be settled before the trust is dissolved in 2030, the most likely scenario for the sale of parts of the business worth $ 43 billion is. Such departures could end decades of influence of the Murdoch family in the US and British political systems.

The time of this very public washing of the family washing comes just as much as the companies themselves enjoy a political and legal boom. The anti-environmental causes represented by Murdochs Fox News can be detested by some of his children, but are very in accordance with the new US president. About a week before the Nyt Exposé, a withered looking Rupert was depicted in the Oval Office alongside President Trump.

In Great Britain, News Corp finally settled with Prince Harry and a telephone hacking scandal that started in 2011. A dysfunctional family that leads through a functioning business.

Claire Enders, who has been studying the Murdoch empire for 40 years, belongs to many analysts who see little logic in recent developments. “As a business analyst, I don’t see what the purpose was. I do not see what they are in such great disagreements, since they all contributed very to the value that was created since the company’s Nadir 13 years ago. “

The author Michael Wolff tells me that the latest gadgets simply “confirm” the hypothesis of his latest book about the family, which he called The autumn: The end of the Murdoch empire. “I think that we clearly head for it (collapse) … Lachlan is released and the rest of the company is broken down.” According to the trained court ruling, Rupert must either survive until he turns 99 in 2030 when the trust is running, or reach an agreement with James, Liz and Prue, which are called “objections to children” in court. With numbers of 1 billion USD for every beneficiary who is mentioned in court and time, rumors have multiplied through the sale of a company, which complements further uncertainty.

Although companies ride politically high, FOX News is still suspended with a defamation of USD $ 2.7 billion after the on-air comments proposed that the electronic voting systems have contributed to this in the US presidential elections 2020 . In April 2023, Fox achieved an agreement of $ 787.5 million in a similar defamation for defamation by the Voting Technology company Dominion Voting Systems.

However, FOX News is the most profitable part of the Murdoch rich and is probably the easiest to sell. It is traded separately and rated with $ 25 billion, and there will be no lack of billionaires who are willing to pay for its access and influence.

The fact that the company will bring profits and the political clout will probably also make it attractive for the Murdoch heirs, including its 13 grandchildren, regardless of their politics. A family advisor was incredulous about the suggestion that the more liberal children want to completely change their politics: “The idea that the three siblings gangs and set up Guardian TV is ridiculous.”

The continued financial dependence on the family business was undoubtedly behind the devastating comment of a spokesman for Rupert and Lachlan, who was convicted of the “Litani of Untruths” in the Atlantic The interview comes “from someone who no longer works for companies but still benefits financially from them”.

Both Dow Jones (which also includes Wall Street Journal) and Harpercollins, the second largest consumer of the world’s largest consumer (whose authors include the Vice President JD Vance), could only be disposed of by hurdles, unless removed in an upcoming Trumpian bearing fire of the regulations.

At the less financially sustainable end of the scale, the news is located in the UK. While Murdoch’s British newspapers brought him an enormous political influence in Westminster – Rupert used the entrance to the back door to No. 10, long before he was regularly Oval Office – there is a question mark about their contribution to the final result.

The Just And Sunday timesThe Sun And his Sunday sister could prove difficult due to the revenue and regulatory hurdles. Total losses in the Sun In the past five years he has reached 515 million GBP, before the settlement with Prince Harry, in the middle of the decline in pressure sales and the high costs for paying for damages for victims of illegal information accumulations.

In 2021, the total value of the title was reduced to zero in view of the payments and the difficulty of adapting to a digital world.

The Just And his Sunday sister title is much better, but the continued saga of the The Telegraph Media Group suggests that selling a British newspaper is anything but uncomplicated. The rules for foreign states in the foreign state, which a member of the government family is accepting Abu Dhabi telegraphhas added another hurdle to a potential takeover.

Enders said: “You would not even be able to evaluate these companies (British newspapers) based on the regulations for foreign property.” While the radio assets are admired, the company moved online due to losses.

The British assets may also be the least loved by every Murdoch with the exception of Rupert. Although Rebekah Brooks, the long -time managing director of News UK, was described by some insiders as “Rupert’s seventh child”, she remains an employee. Liz Murdoch, the only offspring that has earned her life in Great Britain, has also been concentrated on TV assets such as the successful production company sister for a long time. News UK rejected a statement.

In his interview with the AtlanticWhat makes it at times unbearable reading, James does not cite his father as “misogyny” to recognize the skills of his older sisters Liz and Prue. While he criticized the “reactionary” and “white native” ideas of his brother, he seems to be more shocking that his father is not the “committed free marketer” and “believed in immigration as a source for industry and ingenuity” had long thought he was.

Although he has largely kept his lawyer since his resignation in 2020, James liked to speak to journalists. In 2000, when he had just joined the family company, I interviewed him for the Guardian in New York. There was a poster by chairman Mao and an icon of Jesus about a framed picture of James with Rupert behind his desk. “My father’s policy and mine, which I understand better than many, are probably reasonably close,” he said. “I think he is badly misunderstood politically.”

James was about to be sent to Asia to lead Star TV. When I asked who he would turn to in his new job for advice, he says: “I know that it sounds Hokey, but I’m talking to my father.”

In court, a world of evidence stood that James in the witness box cried at some point that he had no longer spoken to his father for years. The fate of the Murdoch business will have a major impact on global politics – but like the authors of Consequence It is also a brutal family drama.

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