LAID BARE IN NEW SERIES
resentment was compounded when Murdoch left Anna for third wife Wendi Deng, who he married in 1999.
The children’s relationships were already coroded by rivalry and James and Lachlan were so fiercely competitive, they now barely speak.
Lachlan has fallen in and out of favour with his father over the years but in 2014 when he returned to New York from Australia to work for News Corp, Murdoch made him chairman and CEO of the Fox Corporation.
As well as Fox, he has control over 28 US TV stations but his father is still a non-executive co chair.
Rupert remains executive chair at News Corp, with Lachlan in the non-exective role.
James who dropped out of Harvard and dabbled in his own rap music label before joining his father’s fold was devastated when his loyalty was repaid with Lachan’s promotion above him.
He walked out of the company but returned in 2018, crucially before his father suffered a serious fall in the bathroom of a yacht.
Murdoch was so badly hurt, fourth wife Jerry Hall called for the children to say their goodbyes and although he recovered, he is rarely seen.
Lachlan has always been politically aligned with his father, amplifying the populist cause through Fox News while James wanted the company to digitise and moderate right-wing bias. Although lucrative, Lachlan was against the Disney buyout because it reduced the empire he hoped to wholly rule. James was chief executive of 21st Century Fox when the deal was done but was in favour, hoping he would continue as boss, an ambition which didn’t materialise. In the last year, James has distanced himself from his father’s legacy. He criticised Murdoch outlets for playing down climate change and is backing the Democrats. Elisabeth has become a successful independent media entrepreneur. Although it appears Lachlan is the obvious successor, when Murdoch dies there could still be a battle. Murdoch’s ex-wife Anna has said she hopes her children walk away from the succession, warning much “heartbreak and hardship” comes with it. But so does power and that is one thing her children, like ∙The their father, will always covet. Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty starts tonight on BBC Two at 9pm.
Only daughter from his second marriage to Anna Murdoch Mann (1967 to 1999), Elisabeth was the favourite but her marriage to PR guru Matthew Freud ended that.