"Many who know Rupert Murdoch say his third marriage in 1999 to Wendi Deng, a 37-year-old former executive in News Corporation's Asian operation, rejuvenated the septuagenarian media mogul.
But it seems that the two young daughters, Grace and Chloe, he had with Ms Deng, have caused a rift with his other children, and contributed to the sudden departure from the News Corporation global media empire last week of his eldest son, Lachlan.
According to various people close to the family, one of the reasons behind the resignation of Lachlan Murdoch - the deputy chief operating officer of News Corporation and widely seen as his father's heir apparent - was a bitter disagreement about the future ownership of the company.
The 30 per cent stake - worth $6bn - that Murdoch Snr holds in News Corporation will pass to his three children by his second wife, Anna, who he was married to for 31 years. They are Lachlan, Elisabeth and James. Prudence, a daughter from his first marriage, also benefits from the arrangement, which allows these four children each to appoint a director to the board after their father dies.
Ms Deng and Mr Murdoch are understood to want to change that, allowing Grace, three, and Chloe, two, to eventually share control of the company, whose assets span from newspapers to
satellite television to movie studios."
A sad little story of a dysfunctional family. But why should great wealth and power exempt a family from petty jealousies?
No comments:
Post a Comment