A patriarchal family-run business
The premise of the series, which airs on HBO, which like CNN is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, is practically ripped from the Murdoch playbook.
Logan Roy, a ruthless dealmaker and a friend of presidents, certainly possesses a Murdoch-ian vibe.
Rupert Murdoch grew the small newspaper company that he inherited from his father in 1952 into one of the most powerful conservative media empires in history. News Corp, with a market cap of $13.50 billion, is one of the most influential companies on the planet.
He always intended to pass down his company to one of his children, but the 91-year-old has never named a successor.
Family structure
Like Roy, the thrice-wed Murdoch has several children from two marriages.
Prudence Macleod is Rupert’s oldest child from his first marriage. Prudence never showed much of an interest in running the family business, so she has largely stayed out of the succession battle that ensnares her siblings.
Rupert Murdoch’s oldest son from his second marriage is Lachlan Murdoch, who rose quickly through the ranks and became chairman and chief executive of News Ltd in 1997.
The family also includes Rupert Murdoch’s youngest son, James Murdoch, who dropped out of Harvard in 1995 to start his own hip-hop record label.
Elisabeth Murdoch is the only daughter of their father’s second marriage.
“She’s very savvy, very cunning. She is perhaps the most like Rupert,” New York Times writer Jim Rutenberg says of Elisabeth in the CNN Original Series “The Murdochs: Empire of Influence.”
Rupert Murdoch has been dismissive of her attempts to take the throne, saying she needs to figure out how many children she wanted to have before planning further advancement at the company, Sky High author Mathew Horsman said in the series.
In 2000, she left the family business and founded one of the UK’s biggest independent production companies.
On “Succession,” Logan Roy has four children. Eldest Connor Roy (Alan Ruck) is mostly removed from the business and, in the most recent season, set his eyes on the presidency. Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) initially sits as the ostensible heir apparent to his father, but after a series of blows, he falls from his father’s graces.
Roy family youngest, quick-witted Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin), has had a hard time proving himself worthy of the top spot. Sarah Snook’s Siobhan (or Shiv), meanwhile, has the skills and her father’s favor (even when they’re at bitter odds), but has been met resistance.
The media empire and network
“Succession’s” Waystar Royco and the Murdoch’s News Corp. have more than a few points of overlap.
On “Succession,” Waystar Royco’s assets include conservative cable news network ATN, the show’s version of Fox News.
Throughout the series, Logan Roy speaks with the president and his advisers about the network’s coverage of the White House and flexes their access.
Fox News is a tool of influence 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 had always fantasized about having a close relationship with an American President,” says Mahler.
Major scandal
In Season 2 of “Succession,” news leaks that Waystar’s cruise ship division 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 gave up his title as executive chairman of News Corp’s UK publishing unit.
“You would 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,” said Mahler. “It’s a humiliating and devastating period for him.”
Selling off the empire
Both Rupert and Logan pulled off a move that left people stunned: Selling off their self-made empires.
In the finale of Season 3, Logan announces his plan to sell Waystar Royco to streaming company GoJo and give tech founder Lukas Matsson control of the company.
“This is the best moment to sell. If I don’t do the best deal at any given point, what’s the point of anything? I don’t get out, I leave $5 billion on the table,” Logan told his children. “Make your own pile. This is an opportunity for you kids to get an education in real life.”
“Once the Disney deal closed, Fox was left a shell of its former self. Gone was the movie studio, gone was the cable networks like FX. What was left was the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Sports, and Fox News — the thing that Rupert cares about more than anything,” Matthew Belloni, former editorial director of The Hollywood Reporter and founding partner of Puck News, says in the Murdoch series.
Rudenberg says this move was seen as a no-confidence vote in his children.
“By making his family the business, and the business his family, Rupert left his family just as broken up as his company was when he sold to Disney,” said Rutenberg. “It was ripped apart by this decades-long battle for succession which, at the same time, was a zero-sum seeming battle for their father’s love.”
Today, Lachlan Murdoch is the CEO of Fox Corp and his father serves as co-chairman. Both James and Elisabeth have left the family business.
The future of Logan’s children is very uncertain as the series heads into 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 premieres Sunday, September 25, at 9 p.m. ET.