Extract from ABC News
By Alison Xiao
Rupert Murdoch wanted to prevent his more progressive children from influencing the future of his media empire. (Reuters: Fred Greaves)
In short:
A detailed account of Rupert Murdoch's 2024 battle to amend his "irrevocable" family trust has been revealed in newly unsealed court documents.
Australia Post chair Siobhan McKenna, then a close ally of Lachlan Murdoch, was a "driving force" behind the plan to amend the trust, according to a court ruling.
While the documents have previously been cited in media reports, this is the first time they have been released publicly.
In 2024, at an unremarkable courthouse in Reno, members of the Murdoch family gathered to battle it out.
Rupert Murdoch was trying to change his family trust to consolidate control of his media empire into the hands of his eldest son, Lachlan Murdoch, rather than split it equally among his children.
After months of consideration, the court denied his bid.
The Nevada court never publicly released its detailed findings or explained why the commissioner ruled against Rupert and Lachlan — until now.
In a 96-page document unsealed overnight, Commissioner Edmund Gorman detailed how the plan to change the trust was a "carefully crafted charade", concluding that Rupert and Lachlan acted in "bad faith" towards Lachlan's siblings — James, Elisabeth and Prudence.
Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch attempted to remove control of the media empire from Prudence MacLeod nee Murdoch, James Murdoch and Elisabeth Murdoch. (AP/Reuters)
The document had not been previously released, but The New York Times and other outlets had cited the findings in their reporting.
It reveals how the succession battle unfolded in court, as well as the key role Australian media executive and Australia Post chair Siobhan McKenna — previously Lachlan's closest advisor — played in the plans to alter the trust.
In 2025, the family reached a deal that guaranteed Lachlan would retain control of his father's media empire after the elderly patriarch's death, with the other three eldest siblings to each receive more than $US1 billion ($1.52 billion) for their shares in the companies.
But the scars from the deep rift in the family are laid bare in the judgment — a culmination of decades of public bickering and a bitter battle in court.
Rupert Murdoch and then-wife Anna Murdoch with Lachlan, James and Elisabeth at their New York home in the 1980s. (Peter Carrette Archive/Getty Images)
The 'irrevocable' trust at centre of court battle
The original Murdoch trust dates back to 1970, according to the court document, when Rupert elected to create a trust "in an effort to avoid high Australian death taxes".
The succession plan, or lack thereof, was cemented in 1999, after Rupert divorced his second wife Anna Torv.
Then was born the Murdoch Family Trust — an "irrevocable" agreement that stipulated control of the business be equally split between Rupert and his then offspring.
It meant that after Rupert's death, control of Fox Corporation and News Corporation would have been evenly divided among Rupert's four oldest children.
It included a clause that allowed Rupert to amend the children's sub-trusts if it was "in the best interests of such beneficiaries", which formed the basis of Rupert and Lachlan's arguments in court.
Rupert and Lachlan hatched a plan, dubbed Project Family Harmony, which Commissioner Gorman described as "perhaps too optimistic".
The plan would ensure Lachlan retained control of the company.
Siobhan McKenna was Lachlan Murdoch's trusted lieutenant. (Supplied: Menzies Foundation)
But the new court findings detail how News Corp powerbroker Siobhan McKenna was central to Project Family Harmony, as a trusted lieutenant to Lachlan.
Commissioner Gorman wrote that the project "had its origins with Siobhan McKenna and Lachlan Murdoch in the middle of 2023", with Rupert only brought into the plan later that year.
At the time, Ms McKenna was in her first year of working as chair of Australia Post, after being appointed by the Albanese government in late 2022.
"The evidence shows that it was Lachlan Murdoch's MD, Siobhan McKenna … that was the driving force behind Project Family Harmony until the special meeting [in December 2023]," he wrote.
"It was Siobhan McKenna who organised the meetings, prepared each meeting agenda, and interfaced with the attorneys … and prepared talking points [for Rupert] to use with all four of his daughters."
According to the judgment, she also vetted candidates for key roles, using Fox security staff to help do the background check.
Among the disqualifying factors was "any association with or like for any other Murdoch person".
Ms McKenna also went with Rupert to meet his ex-wife, Wendi Deng, and subsequently sent her a draft settlement agreement to allow amendments for the sub-trusts of Chloe and Grace Murdoch, the document said.
Ms McKenna cut ties with Lachlan and the global media empire last year.
Rupert Murdoch wanted to hand the reins of his media empire to Lachlan rather than James. (Supplied: News Corp)
A 'carefully crafted charade'
In seeking the court's approval to rewrite the family trust, Rupert had to show he was acting in "good faith" with the sole purpose of benefiting all his heirs.
But the court's probate commissioner ruled that Rupert and Lachlan had brought the case in "bad faith".
Commissioner Gorman described the plan as a "carefully crafted charade" designed to protect Lachlan's power, "regardless of the impacts such control would have over the companies of the beneficiaries".
He wrote that Rupert and Lachlan's managing directors were "motivated primarily by the desire to serve Rupert [and Lachlan] Murdoch's wishes by eliminating the "math problem" that the objecting children's [managing directors] could outvote Lachlan Murdoch after Rupert Murdoch's death and alter the companies' editorial stance".
An episode of Succession reportedly sparked secret discussions among Rupert Murdoch's children about his death. (Supplied: HBO/Macall B Polay)
The proceedings revealed that the TV death of Succession protagonist Logan Roy in April 2023 sparked discussion among some of the Murdoch children about a PR strategy for their father's death.
"Setting off these discussions was the episode of the HBO drama Succession," the commissioner wrote, "where the patriarch of the family dies, leaving his family and business in chaos."
And although Mr Gorman confirmed the children met and discussed "arrangements (or the lack of arrangements) for Rupert Murdoch's funeral and certain management issues at Fox and News", there was "grossly insufficient" evidence to show that Elisabeth or Prudence were part of any plan or scheme to join forces with James after Rupert's death.
The decision also shows that James, Elisabeth and Prudence had "disavowed any plan to oust their brother", and they did not share "any singleness of purpose in changing the management of Fox News".
"The effort was an attempt to stack the deck in Lachlan Murdoch's favour after Rupert Murdoch's passing so that the succession would be immutable," the commissioner wrote.
The court ruled that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch had brought the case in "bad faith". (GC Images: Adrian Edwards)
How Rupert Murdoch became deeply suspicious of his son James
Despite once being groomed as a succession frontrunner, and his rapid ascension in the family business, James left the empire in 2020.
He resigned from News Corporation's board after criticising its newspapers' "ongoing denial of the role of climate change" in bushfires across Australia that year.
Although James, Elisabeth and Prudence are all understood to be less conservative than Lachlan, James had been particularly critical of the organisation's media outlets in the past, having also taken issue with Fox News's coverage of conspiracy theories about voting machines in the 2020 US election, which Mr Trump lost to Joe Biden.
Executives in the company suspected James of briefing journalists on the family, the court document said. (Reuters: Fred Greaves)
The court ruling details how meetings for Project Family Harmony ran risk scenarios for Rupert's legacy, including one that discussed what would happen if "post-[Rupert Murdoch], troublesome beneficiary achieves control".
Commissioner Gorman found: "The evidence is unequivocal and uncontested that Project Family Harmony references to a 'difficult' or 'troublesome' beneficiary are references to James Murdoch."
James's ever-souring relationship with his elder brother and father has been well reported, but Commissioner Gorman points to Rupert's suspicion of his son as a key reason Project Family Harmony got the green light.
"Rupert Murdoch was brought into the plan … under the false assumption that James Murdoch was 'making trouble' by fuelling press speculation about governance of the [Murdoch Family Trust] after Rupert Murdoch's passing," he wrote.
The family later reached a deal that guarantees Lachlan (right) will retain control of the empire. (Reuters: Mike Blake)
But Commissioner Gorman said Rupert's beliefs about James's dealings with the press were "unsubstantiated".
In one example, the commissioner said Lachlan and others within the company believed James, or someone acting on his behalf, had leaked information to Financial Times journalist Alex Barker about the details of the family trust.
But Commissioner Gorman wrote: "At trial, Lachlan Murdoch admitted that he did not have any proof that James Murdoch or his associates had briefed Alex Barker."
A similar suspicion arose around a book published around that time called The Successor, an unauthorised biography of Lachlan written by Australian journalist Paddy Manning, now an investigative reporter at the ABC.
Lachlan Murdoch pictured in 2022. (Supplied: Lionel Hanh Picture Group for Fox Sports)
But the evidence in Reno pointed elsewhere. Commissioner Gorman found that for Manning's book, Lachlan's own adviser, Ms McKenna, had been a significant source, giving more than 14 hours of interviews plus follow-up correspondence.
"The evidence demonstrates that Lachlan Murdoch falsely told his father, without proof, that James Murdoch or his associates were sources for The Successor," the commissioner wrote.
"He did not tell his father that Siobhan McKenna had been involved, with his authorisation."
Commissioner Gorman also described Rupert's concern that his younger son would vehemently oppose Project Family Harmony.
"They assumed James Murdoch would be 'very hostile to this and would basically pull out the stops to block it,'" he wrote.
Murdoch family granted private trial
The bitter family feud, which has lasted decades, has captivated the world and triggered international headlines — with a global media empire at stake.
The court ruling confirmed the family had sought counselling in 2010, with all present except Prudence, to "unpack some of the tensions or problems in the family".
Elisabeth described the process as "painful", while Lachlan said the siblings aired "petty grievances" against Rupert before "they all ended up hating each other".
The 2024 court case brought one chapter of the family's story to a close.
While the court denied Rupert's bid to change the family trust, the family later reached a deal that guarantees Lachlan will retain control of his father's media empire after the elderly patriarch's death.
The trial held in September 2024 was a closed-door hearing, despite a petition from the non-profit organisation Our Nevada Judges to televise the trial.
Six news organisations — the Associated Press, CNN, National Public Radio, The New York Times, Reuters, and The Washington Post — also filed a petition to unseal court proceedings and documents.
The petitions were rejected before the trial began, with the judge ruling that the case is "essentially a private legal arrangement".
The 96-page document of the commissioner's findings was unsealed yesterday after Our Nevada Judges won an appeal this week.
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