Murdoch Family Feud To Remain Confidential

Rupert Murdoch’s legal effort to rewrite the terms of an irrevocable family trust will remain confidential, a Nevada judge has ruled. The judge rejected a petition from a coalition of major news organizations seeking to make the court proceedings public. Proceeding are scheduled to start today.

“A family trust like the one at issue in this case, even when it is a stockholder in publicly traded companies, is essentially a private legal arrangement, as the applicable sealing statutes recognize,” the judge from the Second Judicial District Court in Reno wrote in an 18-page decision. (Reno probate court frequently deals with family trusts and estates.)

The case has drawn intense interest from power players in the overlapping worlds of media, entertainment and politics. Murdoch is one of the most influential press barons of the modern age and his family owns prized assets such as Fox News and The Wall Street Journal. The wealthy clan’s public and private dramas inspired the HBO series “Succession.”

Murdoch reportedly wants to alter the terms of the family trust so that his eldest son, Lachlan, inherits his throne and keeps control of their sprawling business empire. But three of the mogul’s other children — James, Elisabeth and Prudence — are pushing back, insisting that all four siblings continue to receive equal voting shares.

The family feud has been shrouded in secrecy because all of the case filings are under seal. In late July, however, The New York Times published an article based on a copy of a sealed court document laying out some of the case’s key issues. NBC News has not independently seen the document or confirmed its authenticity.

The family is split partly over differences in political opinion. Lachlan Murdoch, who took over as chairman of Fox Corp. and News Corp. last September, tends to be more aligned with his father’s conservative worldview, which the elder Murdoch has long channeled into Fox News.

The three other Murdoch siblings are believed to be more politically moderate. James Murdoch has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential candidacy, and Federal Election Commission records show he has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic congressional candidates and Democratic state parties.

The Times, citing the document, reported that the elder Murdoch believes the “lack of consensus” among his children “would impact the strategic direction at both companies including a potential reorientation of editorial policy and content.”