The Gritty Details Of Fox News' Murdoch Succession: 'He Pitted His Kids Against Each Other'

When Rupert Murdoch announced he had proposed to San Francisco police chaplain and former model Ann Lesley Smith on March 20, he said they were looking forward to spending the second half of their lives together.

The 92-year-old billionaire’s engagement ended after just two weeks and in the wake of the split, Murdoch’s succession drama is heating up as he prepares for what will happen to his mass media company Fox Corp FOX after he dies.

Matters are complicated by the $1.6 billion lawsuit Fox News is facing for its reporting on the 2020 election, but Murdoch’s decision on who will be the heir to his media business has always been a tangled web of both favoritism and ideology, according to Vanity Fair.

Mudoch may figure he has another decade to go, if he lives as long as his mother, who died at the age of 103. But according to the report, his health has recently been shaky at best, causing Mudoch to become obsessed over which of his children will be his successor.

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The Gritty Details of Murdoch’s Succession Drama

Initially, Murdoch envisioned one child from his second wife, Anna Torv, would shine as the best fit for the role after a decades-long proverbial boxing match between the three contenders - Elizabeth Murdoch, Lachlan Murdoch and James Murdoch. (Murdoch has been married four times and has six children in total.) A person with knowledge about the family told Vanity Fair, “He pitted his kids against each other their entire lives. It’s sad.”

Murdoch sees faults in all three children, but favors his oldest son, Lachlan, for the role, according to the outlet. Additionally, the child which Murdoch sees as the best fit for the role is complicated by the process of succession put into place, where the three children and Prudence, Murdoch’s oldest daughter from his first marriage to Patricia Booker, will each hold two votes to choose who heads the company after their father dies.

The succession plan, therefore, will see the four children battle it out, choosing not only who should lead Fox but who they will align with to realize their own beliefs about what the company should become –a reality brought to fruition by Fox News’ handling of former President Donald Trump.

Murdoch’s handling of Trump’s presidency and 2020 election defeat caused a larger rift between the children, with Elizabeth and James disagreeing with Trump’s policies and Lachlan adopting MAGA ideologies. While Lachlan’s views align more with Murdoch’s vision for Fox, the latter doesn’t believe Lachlan wants the job bad enough, according to the publication.

Perhaps most strikingly, employees at Fox News are worried James, Elizabeth and Prudence will band together to take control away from Lachlan and turn the network into a center-right version of CNN, according to Vanity Fair. Employees also fear James could choose to sell the company to a private equity firm, according to the report.

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