Hearts & Minds: The empire of the son: Murdoch’s next act

So, Rupert got what he wanted, for Lachlan to take charge of the Murdoch media empire. Except he didn’t. What Murdoch really desired was for Lachlan to have control but for his three siblings, Elisebeth, James and Prudence, to still have shares. That hasn’t happened; they were having none of it and brought a legal action to block the move. After much washing of family dirty linen, they are to be paid off.

For Fox and News Corp, they face an uncertain future with Lachlan at the helm. Fox looks safe – Lachlan is close to the network. So is its admiration of Donald Trump – Lachlan is a supporter. But News Corp, which covers the newspapers, is vulnerable. Rupert is a newspaper man to his core, Lachlan is not.

If this reads like it’s come from Succession, that’s because it has. The runaway TV drama is focused on a media dynasty. What fascinates is the transition from the old world of the founder to the young and new. It was reflected in the show, with Logan Roy forced to sell to a tech mogul; and in real-life, as Rupert Murdoch’s businesses embrace digital and multi-media. We find it gripping, because that dynamic of the baton being passed, the heirs taking over and meanwhile tech kicking in but also threatening, is played out in public an industry that combines political influence and money.

The Murdochs are not alone. Four generations of Sulzberger’s have run The New York Times since 1896; the Meyer–Graham family controlled the Washington Post from 1933 until Jeff Bezos bought it in 2013; the Bancrofts owned Dow Jones & Co until selling to Murdoch’s News Corp; William Randolph Hearst’s successors own Cosmopolitan and cable TV interests. In the UK, Harmsworth, Rothermere, Berry and Barclay are families that have known great power and experienced upheaval and change. So too in Europe, with the Bertelsmann, Agnelli and Dassault, and in Japan, where the Watanabes dominate Yomiuri Shimbun, the world’s largest circulation newspaper and the Bennetts run The Times of India. Australia had Fairfax (Sydney Morning Herald, The Age) for decades before the business collapsed into Nine Entertainment. In Canada, the Thomson family is among the world’s richest, via their news titles and Thomson Reuters. Perhaps in future, the fortunes of the Zuckerberg and Bezos scions will come to have the same hold.

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.