A patriarchal family business
The premise of the series, which airs on HBO, which like CNN is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, is practically taken from Murdoch’s playbook.
Logan Roy, a ruthless negotiator and friend of presidents, certainly has a Murdochian vibe.
Rupert Murdoch turned the small newspaper business he inherited from his father in 1952 into one of the most powerful conservative media empires in history. News Corp, with a market capitalization of $13.50 billion, is one of the most influential companies on the planet.
He always intended to pass his business on to one of his children, but the 91-year-old never named a successor.
Family structure
Like Roy, thrice-married Murdoch has several children from two marriages.
Prudence Macleod is Rupert’s eldest child from his first marriage. Prudence has never shown much interest in running the family business, so she has largely stayed away from the succession battle that ensnares her siblings.
Rupert Murdoch’s eldest son from his second marriage is Lachlan Murdoch, who quickly rose through the ranks and became Chairman and Managing Director of News Ltd in 1997.
The family also includes Rupert Murdoch’s youngest son, James Murdoch, who left Harvard in 1995 to start his own hip-hop record label.
Elisabeth Murdoch is the only daughter from their father’s second marriage.
“She’s very savvy, very cunning. She may be the most like Rupert,” New York Times writer Jim Rutenberg said of Elisabeth in CNN’s original series “The Murdochs: Empire of Influence.” .
Rupert Murdoch has dismissed her attempts to take the throne, saying she needs to figure out how many children she wants to have before planning any further moves in the business, Sky High author Mathew Horsman says in the series.
In 2000, she left the family business and founded one of the UK’s largest independent production companies.
On “Succession”, Logan Roy has four children. Elder Connor Roy (Alan Ruck) is mostly retired from the company, and in the final season has set his sights on the presidency. Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) initially sits as his father’s heir apparent, but after a series of beatings he falls from his father’s grace.
The youngest of the Roy family, quick-witted Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin), struggled to prove himself worthy of the top spot. Sarah Snook’s Siobhan (or Shiv), meanwhile, has her father’s skill and favor (even when they disagree), but has met with resistance.
The Empire and the Media Network
Waystar Royco of “Succession” and Murdoch’s News Corp. have more than a few points of overlap.
On “Succession,” Waystar Royco’s assets include conservative cable news network ATN, Fox News’ version of the show.
Throughout the series, Logan Roy talks to the President and his advisers about White House network coverage and tailors their access.
Fox News is an influence tool for Rupert Murdoch, Jonathan Mahler, who co-wrote “How Rupert Murdoch’s Empire of Influence Remade the World,” says in “The Murdochs: Empire of Influence.”
“Rupert always dreamed of having a close relationship with an American president,” says Mahler.
Major scandal
In “Succession” Season 2, leaked information indicates that Waystar’s cruise ship division has buried internal reports of sexual harassment, assault, and possibly murder. The scandal forced Logan Roy and his son Kendall Roy to testify before a US Senate subcommittee – another strike in Kendall’s pursuit of power.
In the fallout, James relinquished his title as executive chairman of News Corp’s UK publishing unit.
“You imagine, in a situation like this, a father’s instinct might be to protect his son, but James is really thrown under the bus by his father,” Mahler said. “It’s a humiliating and devastating time for him.”
sell the empire
Rupert and Logan both pulled off a move that left people stunned: selling their self-made empires.
In the Season 3 finale, Logan announces his intention to sell Waystar Royco to streaming company GoJo and give tech founder Lukas Matsson control of the company.
“Now is the best time to sell. If I don’t get the best deal at some point, what’s the point? I’m not going out, I’m leaving $5 billion on the table,” Logan told his kids . “Make your own pile. It’s an opportunity for your kids to get a real-life education.”
“Once the Disney deal was done, Fox was just a shell of itself. Gone was the movie studio, gone were the cable networks like FX. What was left was the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Sports and Fox News – the thing Rupert cares about more than anything,” said Matthew Belloni, former editorial director of The Hollywood Reporter and founding partner of Puck News, in the Murdoch series.
Rudenberg says the move was seen as a vote of no confidence in her children.
“By making his family the business and the business his family, Rupert left his family as broken as his business was when he sold to Disney,” Rutenberg said. “He was torn apart by this decades-long succession battle which, at the same time, was an apparent zero-sum battle for the love of their father.”
Today, Lachlan Murdoch is the CEO of Fox Corp and his father is the co-chairman. James and Elisabeth left the family business.
The future of Logan’s children is very uncertain as the series enters its fourth season.
A premiere date has not been announced.
“The Murdochs: Empire of Influence,” a CNN original series produced in partnership with The New York Times, explores the legacy of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the intense succession battle between his children. It will premiere on Sunday, September 25 at 9 p.m. ET.