Is Murdoch 'Succession' more dramatic than the HBO show? A book has some clues

It has long been expected that Media baron Rupert Murdoch's all-encompassing empire of Fox corporation and News Corp will go to his older son Lachlan Murdoch.

However, a soon-to-be-released book titled 'The Successor: The High-Stakes Life of Lachlan Murdoch' claims that Lachlan will be fired, a day after his father dies.

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Author Paddy Manning cited a Wall Street analyst who has covered the Murdoch business for decades as saying, "it would be ‘fair to assume Lachlan gets fired the day Rupert dies'."

The insider dubbed the breakdown in the relationship between the brothers Lachlan and James Murdoch as one of the prominent reasons for the former's potential ouster.

The synopsis given by Manning of his book has eerie similarities to the plot of the hit HBO series 'Succession' where Logan Roy, a fictional character loosely based on Rupert Murdoch similarly disowns his oldest son from inheriting the media empire.

“In a plausible scenario. After Rupert has passed and his shares are dispersed among the four adult children, the three on the other side of Lachlan could choose to manifest control over all of the Murdoch businesses, and to do it in a way that enhances democracies around the world rather than undermining them," added Manning.

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The author was referring to the divide within the Murdoch family that has widened in the years gone by. While Lachlan sits firmly on the conservative end of the spectrum, controlling Fox News, New York Post and the Wall Street Journal - his younger brother James is more focused on strengthening democracy, climate activism, political causes and of course defeating Donald Trump.

Manning believes that in the absence of senior Murdoch, the family will edge out Lachlan, so as to nurture a more credible and cohesive image instead of the current symbiotic relationship with the Republicans.

Read more: Nearly a decade after the split, Rupert Murdoch mulling merging Fox and News Corp again

The succession plan, however, will get increasingly complex or simple based on merger plans laid down by Rupert Murdoch.

As reported by WION, last month, the business mogul was mulling plans of merging News Corpand Fox Corp., a little less than 10 years after they were split.

To evaluate a possible merger, the two companies have established executive committees. The proposal is still in its infancy and both companies are yet to ascertain the completion of the deal.

The split transpired in 2013 and Murdoch, at the time attributed the decision to simplifying operations which had become 'increasingly complex' due to the vast size of his media holdings.

However, since then,muchwater has flown under the bridge. The advertising sales revenue has fallento record lows for media companies in the last few years.

(With inputs from agencies)

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