Financial TimesFinancial Times

The Murdoch family trust: How the scions could battle for control

By Alex Barker

09 Jan 2023 · 11 min read

Editor's Note

If Rupert Murdoch gets his way, he'll eventually cede control of his media empire to his eldest son. But will the rest of the family let it happen? It could get messy, according to the FT's deep dive.

Rupert Murdoch might be the most powerful man in news but for most of his career the 91-year-old fell short in one important respect: he did not have control of the family business.

For roughly four decades, Murdoch’s reign depended on the goodwill of his siblings, three Australian women far from the public glare. Until the 1990s, the press baron could be outvoted by his sisters Janet Calvert-Jones, Anne Kantor and Helen Handbury.

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