A US court has ruled against Rupert Murdoch's bid to change his family trust to consolidate control of his media empire in the hands of his son Lachlan, the New York Times reports, citing a sealed court document.
Summary
A U.S. court blocked Rupert Murdoch’s attempt to amend his family trust to give control of his media empire to his son Lachlan, deeming it a "carefully crafted charade" favoring Lachlan over his siblings.
The trust is currently set to equally divide control among Murdoch’s four eldest children after his death.
The ruling highlighted bad faith efforts by Rupert and Lachlan and was welcomed by the other siblings.
Murdoch and Lachlan plan to appeal the decision, which has sparked internal family tensions likened to the TV drama Succession.
Lachlan is a masculine name of Irish origin, meaning “from the land of lakes” or “from the fjord land.” It is an Anglicized version of the Gaelic and Scottish Lachlann, which means “warrior from the land of the lochs” with loch meaning “lake” or “fjord” and lann translating to “land.”