September 17, 2024 / Press
Robert Strauss Quoted in The Hollywood Reporter as Legal Battle Ensues Over the Future of Rupert Murdoch’s Empire
Robert Strauss spoke to The Hollywood Reporter’s Winston Cho about a legal drama currently unfolding like a real-world version of the television show “Succession” as media mogul Rupert Murdoch petitions a Nevada probate court to change the terms of the irrevocable family trust that controls News Corp and Fox.
Murdoch is petitioning the court to change the terms of his family trust agreement in order to allow Lachlan, his eldest son, to retain control of his conservative media empire upon his passing. While Lachlan is the current Chair of News Corp, the trust was set up to give equal voting shares to Murdoch’s four eldest children, leaving room for remaining siblings Prudence, Elisabeth, and James to sway the media properties in a more moderate direction in the future if they so choose. If the petition is successful, Lachlan would gain the most voting shares and, ultimately, control over his father’s media properties, though his siblings are reportedly uniting against the change.
Rob explains to THR that whether the trust’s revisions are favorable for every beneficiary, which is unlikely, will be the central component of the case. “It’s hard to see how taking control away from someone is beneficial for that individual,” he says.
Therefore, Rob opines that because Murdoch’s request to amend the trust will “reduce a peoples’ shares or take away their voting control,” the petition is not likely to succeed in court, as the “definition of a bad reason is if [the amendment] would benefit one trustee against the others.”