Travails of the Rich and Greedy
Rupert Murdoch demanded his kids give him $100 million each as a sign of respect
finance.yahoo.com
Rupert Murdoch put his nepo babies to the ultimate test. After closing on the sale of Fox entertainment assets to Disney in spring 2019, the media titan—who’s worth an estimated $10.4 billion— asked his four oldest children to give him upward of $100 million from their respective payouts, according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal. The Fox sale netted $12 billion to be split among the children.
But only three of them obliged. Lachlan, Elisabeth, and Prudence each gave the patriarch the money as a “sign of respect for the fortune he had earned over the years,” according to the WSJ. But James, one of the younger sons who had regularly had beef with his father over differing political and business-related views, refused.
The entire transaction was quite odd, considering how Rupert Murdoch has gone to great lengths to ensure his children acquire his fortune when he dies. But Rupert has reportedly shown preference for Lachlan, the eldest son, and wants him to inherit his entire media empire. Through its trust, the Murdoch family controls both Fox Corp and News Corp. Fox owns Fox News, all 29 Fox TV stations, Fox Sports, and other Fox subsidiaries. News Corp owns WSJ, The Times, the New York Post, and right-leaning local papers. Lachlan currently serves as executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corp and is thought to be politically aligned with his father, unlike the other children.
News Corp responded to Fortune’s request for comment saying all questions on the matter should be directed to Adam F. Streisand, a trial attorney with SheppardMullen. Streisand’s biography page cheekily reads “If you’ve seen it on HBO’s ‘Succession,’ Adam Streisand has litigated it (and much more) in real life,” a nod to the show that’s been deeply compared to the Murdoch family drama. There is no direct mention of litigating for the Murdochs on his page, however, and Streisand did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment. Fox Corp did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment. |
