Failing at succession? Try secession

IF YOU’RE a fan of HBO’s Succession, you might’ve spent a few delicious moments last month (July) imagining Lachlan Murdoch yelling, “I am the eldest boy!”.

The TV show about the feuding Roy clan might’ve ended its run, but the Murdochs’ power struggle is just getting started. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, 93, – synonymous with Fox News and News Corp – is trying to amend the family trust to give his son, Lachlan, control of his business after his death. Three of Lachlan’s siblings are contesting this effort in court. Thanksgiving will be tense for the Murdochs.

Rupert Murdoch wouldn’t be the first geriatric media titan asserting control well past his prime. Viacom’s Sumner Redstone battled his daughter Shari over corporate governance and succession issues well past his 80s. So acrimonious was their disagreement that in 2007, Sumner blasted Shari in an open letter, accusing her of having made “little or no contribution” to his media empire.