By Dawn Chmielewski
(Reuters) – A hearing to determine control of Rupert Murdoch’s global television and publishing empire concluded Monday in a Reno, Nevada, courtroom, though the outcome remained unclear.
Murdoch, 93, is attempting to change the terms of the family’s trust — which holds significant stakes in Fox News parent Fox and Wall Street Journal owner News Corp. The billionaire is looking to ensure that, upon his death, the media companies remain under control of his eldest son, Lachlan Murdoch, according to the New York Times, which obtained a sealed court document detailing the succession drama.
A hearing to determine whether Murdoch is acting in good faith took place over the past week in probate court, where the proceedings were closed to the public.
A Nevada judge rejected an appeal by Reuters and other news organizations to open the hearings to the public.
The group appealed the ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court, and sought to halt the proceeding until the issues could be resolved. One of the family members, identified as Doe 9, countered that stopping the hearings midstream would be harmful to the dozens of people who upended their lives to come to Reno to participative.
The news organizations also asked the court to unseal all the documents in the case.
The state supreme court allowed the hearing to proceed, but on Friday issued an order giving the Murdoch family 28 days to address the news organizations’ arguments that the court documents should be unsealed, with sensitive information redacted.
The Murdoch trust was formed around the time of Rupert Murdoch’s divorce from his second wife, Anna, in 1999. The trust is the vehicle through which the elder Murdoch controls News Corp and Fox, with roughly a 40% stake in voting shares of each company.
Upon Rupert Murdoch’s death, News Corp and Fox voting shares will be transferred to his four oldest children – Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan and James. Potentially, three of the heirs could out-vote a fourth, setting up a battle over the future of the companies, even as Lachlan Murdoch runs Fox and is sole chair of News Corp.
Rupert Murdoch’s proposed amendment would block any interference by three of Lachlan’s siblings, who are more politically moderate, the Times reported, citing a sealed court document.
(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Editing by David Gregorio)
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