#video #Dynasty The Murdochs S01E01 Episode 1 Engsub
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00:08The Murdoch succession battle has been like a soap opera
00:12that's been going on for, honestly, decades.
00:16We got the bombshell news that the Murdochs have settled.
00:20The long-running saga has reached a resolution.
00:23It was always about more than money.
00:25It was about power and daddy's love.
00:30Rupert!
00:30Rupert got everything he wanted,
00:33and it ripped his family apart.
00:41Family dynasties are incredibly hard to maintain.
00:45They tend to follow a traditional pattern
00:48where you have a founder,
00:50then in the second generation, the real success,
00:52and in the third generation, things sort of fall apart.
00:57These families have an enormous amount of power.
01:01All this influence, all this wealth.
01:04Flying around in private jets
01:05with incredible properties all over the world.
01:09You have the Waltons in the U.S., who own Walmart.
01:12They solemnly swear.
01:13The Bushes.
01:14Please clap.
01:15The Fords.
01:17But of all these families,
01:20far and away, the most influential is the Murdochs.
01:28Rupert Murdoch is a one-of-a-kind, brilliant business person,
01:31but he's also a villain for a lot of people.
01:36Murdoch's a proper danger to liberal democracies.
01:41I'm not making any companies.
01:42If liberal democracy is your thing...
01:45Our company is a reflection of my thinking,
01:49my character, and my values.
01:55Like most rich people,
01:57Rupert thinks he's going to live beyond the grave.
02:00So he feels like he has to have control over his legacy,
02:03or it's the end of the empire.
02:07It's every father's natural desire to see his children follow him
02:11if they're up to him.
02:13For Rupert, there was the family,
02:15and there was the business,
02:17and they were never separate.
02:19But this is part of the game
02:20that Rupert Murdoch has played with his family.
02:23Tell us the best thing about your dad.
02:26See.
02:27What's at stake here is billions of dollars.
02:29And the most influential media property that's ever existed.
02:33So it's like a family squabble, like on steroids,
02:38that has a huge effect on our politics and our lives.
02:51I hate to do this, but to explain the Murdochs,
02:54you have to understand the television show Succession on HBO.
03:01It's about a dynastic media family,
03:03strikingly like the Murdochs.
03:06There's a patriarch who's very much modeled on Rupert Murdoch.
03:10And just like the Murdoch kids,
03:12there are four children,
03:14each with their own little camp.
03:17And of course, the Murdoch children love the show,
03:20except for James, who claims not to watch it.
03:23Apparently dad's sick.
03:25Uh, what do you mean he's sick?
03:26So in the last season in 2023,
03:30the Rupert character suddenly dies.
03:33Don't go home, please. Not now.
03:36The family goes into a tailspin.
03:38They are not ready for it.
03:41Succession isn't settled.
03:42The stock price is crashing.
03:44My father, Logan Roy, was pronounced...
03:46No one has any idea what to do,
03:48who's going to speak at the funeral,
03:50who's going to take over the company.
03:52It's a mess.
03:55Elizabeth's representative, Mark Devereaux,
03:57is watching the show,
03:58and Mark finds himself in a panic.
04:01Oh my God, that could happen to us.
04:04We haven't thought about any of this.
04:06It's important to understand that
04:08though Rupert is well into his 90s,
04:10he hates talking about his mortality.
04:14There's this kind of mythology
04:15within Rupert Murdoch's companies
04:18that he's never going to die,
04:19that he's immortal.
04:21There's been no discussion of memorials,
04:24of burial.
04:25You just can't go there with Rupert.
04:29So Mark calls Liz and says,
04:32Oh my God, have you seen this episode?
04:34And she's already seen it twice.
04:37And she also panics.
04:39You have to do something.
04:41So Mark Devereaux starts to write
04:44what will become the succession memo.
04:50And it lays out,
04:51here are the things you have to start thinking about.
04:53What is going to happen when Rupert dies?
04:56Who will speak at the funeral?
04:58What will happen with the companies?
05:02And this memo is circulated among the children.
05:05And the idea is that
05:07they are going to begin this conversation
05:09if not with their father,
05:10then at least on the margins around their father.
05:14Liz says this has to be sorted out now.
05:17The future of the family depends on it.
05:27Since they were kids,
05:28the Murdochs had been raised with this idea
05:31that their father built this media empire
05:34in a kind of swashbuckling,
05:38risk-it-all, gonzo manner
05:41that Rupert is really proud of.
05:45This is a theme that runs all through Rupert's career.
05:49It's the outsider,
05:51it's the underdog taking on the elite.
05:54And that was established early on
05:56when he first arrived in London in 1969.
06:05When Rupert arrived in Britain,
06:07no one took him very seriously,
06:09which is the mistake everyone's made about Murdoch to this point.
06:12As a young man in Australia,
06:15he had acquired a number of Australian newspapers
06:18and had just married his second wife,
06:21Anna Torf Murdoch.
06:22Anna was originally a reporter
06:24on one of his Australian newspapers.
06:26She is quite capable of coping with the tricky job
06:29of being wife to an ambitious man.
06:31I think that being the wife of a tycoon
06:34must be awful, really.
06:37Well, first of all,
06:37I don't like him being called a tycoon.
06:40And secondly, it is awful sometimes,
06:42and it is lonely,
06:43and you are cut out of it.
06:45But I don't think I'd change it for anything at all.
06:49I think newspapers are in his blood.
06:51He's fascinated by them.
06:54By the presses rolling,
06:57seeing it on the street,
06:59watching what other people read.
07:02He catches the tube in the morning,
07:04and he doesn't take the papers.
07:06He has read them all here.
07:08And he sits in a little corner
07:09and watches the dolly birds in London
07:12with their mini skirts
07:13and what they're reading.
07:15He's a good Australian businessman who's come here
07:18and going to show you how to do it.
07:21Murdoch decides that the British establishment
07:24needs to be shaken up and disrupted.
07:28So he buys a fading left-of-center
07:31British tabloid called The News of the World.
07:35Murdoch took over The News of the World in January.
07:38Since then, its circulation has risen
07:40by more than half a million.
07:41Some critics claim it has lowered the standards
07:43of Fleet Street,
07:44the demon king of journalism,
07:46Rupert Murdoch.
07:47Rupert in Britain is called The Dirty Digger.
07:50The British establishment sees him
07:52as playing to the basest interests
07:56and appetites of the British public.
07:59People said he's destroying British newspapers,
08:02but actually he wasn't.
08:03He was making them fun.
08:06People responded to that.
08:09I'm not ashamed of any of my newspapers at all.
08:12And I'm rather sick of snobs
08:15who tell us that they're bad papers.
08:17Snobs who only read papers
08:20that no one else wants.
08:24Murdoch's London home
08:25is in a fashionable square near Hyde Park.
08:28Anna has settled down somewhat uneasily
08:31to English life with her one-year-old daughter.
08:34Anna provides Rupert with a lovely family.
08:38Elizabeth, named after Rupert's mother,
08:40is born first.
08:42Lachlan and James arrive,
08:43each in sequence a couple years later.
08:46And with Prudence,
08:47who is a product of his first marriage in Australia,
08:51the Murdochs become prominent figures.
08:55Prominent enough that they're targeted.
08:57A recent profile of you said
08:59that you belong to the brash, masculine, Australian tradition.
09:03Is that how you see yourself?
09:05Brash? I don't know.
09:06Judge for yourself.
09:08He got a lot of publicity
09:09and he does an interview
09:11which then is seen by two men,
09:14the Hussein brothers.
09:19It shows Rupert's Rolls-Royce
09:22turning up at the offices of the News of the World.
09:26And the Hussein brothers go,
09:28that guy's rich
09:29and they come up with a plan
09:31to kidnap his wife.
09:34One day,
09:36they follow the Rolls-Royce.
09:38But what they don't know
09:40is that the Murdochs have loaned their Rolls-Royce
09:42to the family of one of Murdoch's executives.
09:49And the executive's wife, Muriel McKay,
09:52is kidnapped instead.
09:55So the Hussein brothers are in a bind.
09:58They've kidnapped the wrong person.
09:59They don't know what to do with her.
10:01More than a hundred policemen
10:03will begin an even more intense search
10:05of the farm buildings and surrounding fields.
10:09The brothers were ultimately apprehended by police,
10:12but the body of Muriel McKay was never found.
10:19And for the Murdochs,
10:20it was also traumatic
10:22because they knew that the attempt
10:24had been on Anna Murdoch's life.
10:45It shakes their sense
10:47that Britain is a safe place for them to be.
10:50She worries about her own safety,
10:52but she really worries about her children.
10:56Was that why you left?
10:58Um, partly.
11:06The details are very sketchy,
11:08but one night,
11:10Anna Murdoch is driving her own car
11:13and there was an elderly woman
11:15trying to cross the road
11:18and she hit the woman and killed her.
11:25No media did publish the details.
11:29I mean, this terrible accident
11:31happened 50 years ago
11:34and we still don't know very much about it.
11:38This is a terrible tragedy
11:40and it shakes Anna to her core.
11:45First, there had been the attempt on her life
11:49and the accident was the last straw.
11:53Anna Murdoch is desperate
11:54to leave England behind her.
12:02You went to America with the family?
12:04Yes, I took my children to New York.
12:09The Murdochs moved to a fabulous apartment
12:12just across the road from Central Park.
12:15It was this penthouse apartment
12:17that had a private elevator
12:20and a butler named George
12:22who catered to every whim.
12:26Anything that they could ever want
12:28or need was given to them.
12:31I suppose we lived
12:33a very privileged lifestyle
12:34comparative to some of the people
12:36that we grew up with,
12:38but we didn't think of ourselves
12:39as special at all.
12:41The kids were afforded
12:44every luxury imaginable.
12:46They had the best educations,
12:48they went to the best schools.
12:51So they were all a part
12:54of this ecosystem
12:55of the most wealthy
12:58and powerful people in the city.
13:02Tell us about your father a little bit.
13:04Tell us the best thing about your dad.
13:07Best thing?
13:08Yes.
13:12Well, he always likes to go camping with us
13:16and we'll go,
13:17actually we're going camping
13:18after the Olympics for a week.
13:21Does he spend a lot of time with you?
13:23Yes.
13:26When James and Lachlan were really young,
13:29they were treated almost like twins.
13:31They were only born 15 months apart
13:33and as little boys,
13:36they were almost inseparable.
13:37They liked to play knights together
13:40and build forts
13:42and, you know,
13:43get into little boy trouble together.
13:46When they argued,
13:48Rupert almost welcomed
13:49the competition between his children.
13:52He never stepped in to stop it.
13:54He just let them fight.
13:56When you were growing up,
13:58was there a kind of pecking order
13:59in the family?
14:01No, I used to beat them up.
14:05But we were always
14:06a very, very close family.
14:09For the Murdochs,
14:10family life was organized
14:13around Rupert's professional world
14:15where he was king of the castle.
14:18From a very early age,
14:19I'm talking now seven years old
14:21and eight years old,
14:22we began to understand
14:23that we were part of the media business.
14:26Liz and James and I
14:27would come up to breakfast
14:28before we had to get the bus to school
14:30and all the papers would come out.
14:33And as we read the papers,
14:34my dad would be handing out stories
14:36to us and say,
14:37read that and see this.
14:37We'd say, look at that headline.
14:39That's a shocking headline.
14:41All of the kids
14:43wanted Rupert's attention
14:45and there was a finite amount
14:47of it to go around.
14:49So, invariably,
14:51the kids ended up competing for it.
14:53We knew that you had to be part
14:56of that world in some ways
14:57if you were going to be engaged with him.
15:01James told me this story
15:02about how his dad
15:04was always so distracted
15:05and would often not respond
15:07to James when he was talking.
15:10James once asked his mom,
15:11is daddy going deaf?
15:15No, he's just not listening.
15:19Rupert is always moving
15:21and like a shark,
15:23you die if you stop moving.
15:25He asks himself,
15:26what do my competitors know?
15:28What do I know that they don't know?
15:30Three blocks.
15:31You make a left.
15:32You follow that down.
15:33What Rupert liked about America
15:35was it wasn't old.
15:36It wasn't stuck in the past.
15:38He saw a huge landscape
15:40he could paint on.
15:43And that's exciting
15:44for an entrepreneur.
15:45He could do whatever he wanted.
15:48Murdoch bought the New York Post
15:50in 1976.
15:52And on the very first day
15:54that Rupert took over the paper,
15:56door bursts open
15:57at 6 a.m. in the morning.
15:58and he just walks in.
16:00His things he wants changed.
16:03What Murdoch wants to do
16:05is to win over
16:06the white working class
16:09who are reading the daily news.
16:10He's going to draw them
16:12to the New York Post.
16:13And in 1977,
16:16he got his chance.
16:20We bring you the following
16:21NBC News special report.
16:24Darkness takes the city.
16:27The New York City area
16:28and its 10 million people
16:30were blocked off.
16:31And tonight,
16:32large parts of the city
16:33still are without power.
16:36There was looting.
16:37There was crime.
16:38And people felt that New York
16:41was just out of control.
16:43All the big columnists
16:44and all the papers
16:45are out in the streets.
16:46And many reporters
16:48were liberal
16:48in their views
16:49about these things.
16:51And they are writing
16:52about how the blackout
16:54has brought inequality
16:56in the city to the surface.
16:58So Rupert brings in
17:00his favorite correspondent,
17:01Steve Dunleavy.
17:03And Dunleavy knows
17:05the story that Rupert wants.
17:07He sees it through
17:09the eyes of the cops.
17:11So he says,
17:12I'll go to the poor neighborhood
17:13and I'll write about
17:14the breakdown in law and order.
17:19playing to the white flight crowd.
17:23And it works.
17:25It sells papers.
17:28So Rupert says,
17:30that's what my newspaper
17:31is going to be.
17:32Get your post here.
17:33Do your post here.
17:34I'll get more.
17:35He's building a new constituency,
17:37white working class readers,
17:40but with a populist
17:42right-leaning slant.
17:44Pre-Murdoch,
17:45the post was pretty much
17:47a blue-collar
17:48but educated readership.
17:50I don't know
17:51what comes after blue-collar,
17:52but whatever the color
17:53of the collar is,
17:54that's where Rupert Murdoch took it.
17:58If you don't do what I want,
18:00then, you know,
18:01it's going to be your fault,
18:02not my fault,
18:02if it doesn't work.
18:04Rupert was making
18:05the New York Post
18:05like his British tabloids
18:07with lots of sex,
18:08lots of crime,
18:10sensationalist headlines.
18:12Headless body
18:12and topless bar,
18:14that's still legendary.
18:16He's doing a very good job,
18:17a superb job,
18:19and all his publications
18:21are more interesting
18:22than they have been.
18:24The post went from
18:25400,000 circulation
18:27to a million.
18:28I mean,
18:29we went from being
18:30this quiet little paper
18:31to being this paper
18:33that became controversial.
18:35Read out about it,
18:36get the post here.
18:37And everybody
18:38either loved us
18:40or hated us.
18:41You're on a sleazy newspaper.
18:43Not true.
18:45Rupert became a villain
18:46for a lot of people.
18:48Rupert Murdoch.
18:49Controversial Australian
18:50publication.
18:50Based on the publishing
18:51of the given
18:52he's more of
18:52sensational newspapers
18:54in the world.
18:55But that disdain
18:58that sort of polite society
18:59had for Rupert Murdoch
19:01actually helped
19:03kind of bring the kids together
19:05and bring the family together.
19:07That's my son James.
19:08James, are you
19:09in the newspaper business too?
19:10I want to be.
19:11Do you really?
19:12Yeah.
19:12Tell us about your dad.
19:13We only know him
19:13through the newspapers.
19:14How would you describe
19:15your dad?
19:17Well, different
19:18from what the newspapers
19:19say in the TV shows.
19:22Well, I think
19:22that the papers
19:25in the shows
19:25about him and stuff
19:26make him look
19:27a little like
19:28too mean
19:30and dark
19:31and sinister.
19:32And really,
19:33he's a really
19:34nice person,
19:36a fun person.
19:37Sometimes, eh?
19:37Yeah.
19:38When you're behind.
19:43I remember one cover
19:44of Time Magazine
19:46that had my father's
19:47King Kong
19:48on top of the
19:49World Trade Center
19:50with, you know,
19:51little biplanes
19:52trying to shoot him down.
19:53And that was the first
19:54memory that I have
19:55that, well,
19:56you know,
19:56the other dads
19:58at school
19:59weren't on the cover
20:00of Time Magazine
20:02portrayed as this monster.
20:04All these kids
20:05were very aware
20:07of the disapproval
20:09that many New Yorkers
20:10had for their father.
20:12And so it was something
20:13that forged
20:14their identity.
20:16I mean,
20:17Liz told me
20:17that if you see people
20:19constantly attacking
20:20your father,
20:20you just want to band together.
20:22And that's what they did,
20:24at least for a while.
20:29It's always been
20:29the kids' destiny
20:30that they're going
20:31to run the company.
20:32They're told that
20:33from a very early age.
20:35One day,
20:36one of you
20:37will be running
20:38the Murdoch Empire.
20:39They don't know
20:40who it's going to be.
20:41They know they're
20:41going to have to compete.
20:44This is part of the game
20:46that Rupert Murdoch
20:46has played with his family.
20:49It's going to be
20:50a long battle.
20:51They know they're going
20:52to have to prove themselves.
20:53And so,
20:54as competitors
20:55for Rupert's affections
20:57and ultimately
20:57for the succession,
21:01all the kids
21:02have played
21:03a different game.
21:05First and foremost,
21:06we have Prudence.
21:08Prue was
21:09from a previous marriage,
21:10had a different mother,
21:11so that made her feel
21:13like a little more
21:14of an outsider.
21:17Prudence,
21:17from relatively early,
21:19decides she doesn't want
21:19to be a major player
21:20in this.
21:22You know,
21:22it's a big buzz
21:23being around Dad.
21:25You know,
21:25it's very exciting
21:26what he does.
21:26and I'm sure
21:29if I'd been around him
21:30longer,
21:31I may well have
21:31wanted to do that.
21:32But I always wanted
21:33to be independent.
21:38Next up
21:38is Elizabeth.
21:42Yeah,
21:43I think you said
21:43that of his children,
21:45you're the one
21:45who's most like him.
21:48Really?
21:50Possibly.
21:52I don't quite know
21:53what that means
21:53to be most like
21:54my old man.
21:57Elizabeth is
21:58the oldest child
21:59in his marriage
22:00to Anna Murdoch.
22:03She is shrewd
22:04and ambitious
22:05in her own way.
22:07She has her dad's
22:09creative streak
22:10in a way
22:10that her brothers don't.
22:13So she's sent
22:14to be a researcher
22:15on a pretty crappy
22:16little current affairs
22:17program in Sydney,
22:17which is kind of
22:19the lowest of the low
22:20in that position.
22:21She serves a couple
22:22of years doing that
22:24and then she persuades
22:26Rupert to lend her
22:26some money
22:27to go and buy
22:28a couple of TV stations.
22:34Who are you most like
22:36of your mother and father?
22:38I don't know.
22:39I think,
22:41hopefully,
22:41I'm a mixture of both.
22:44Hopefully,
22:44I've got my mother's looks.
22:49Lachlan has always been
22:51the dutiful son.
22:55He's kind of
22:56the mini Rupert,
22:58self-consciously
22:59emulative
22:59of his dad.
23:02Lachlan did a little
23:03apprenticeship
23:04at the Times
23:05and the Sun
23:06in London.
23:07I was cleaning out
23:08the inkwells,
23:09but having said that,
23:10I understand
23:11the basics
23:12of printing,
23:12you know,
23:13a lot better
23:14than a lot of executives
23:15around the place.
23:17And then I went
23:18to university.
23:20Lachlan went to Princeton
23:22and was pretty low-key.
23:25His main passion
23:26was actually
23:27not academic at all.
23:29It was rock climbing.
23:31He was climbing
23:32eight hours a day
23:33and he was good
23:34at it.
23:35I studied philosophy
23:37and specifically
23:38sort of ethics.
23:40But I wasn't
23:41a great student.
23:42I tended to leave
23:43everything
23:44to the last minute.
23:45That's the journalist
23:46in here, perhaps.
23:47Absolutely.
23:48That's right.
23:48Pushing those deadlines
23:49whenever I can.
23:54James is more
23:55of an introvert.
23:56He's very bright,
23:58very articulate,
24:00but he was always
24:01seen as kind of
24:01the problem son.
24:04He had famously
24:05done an internship
24:06in an Australian newspaper
24:07and been photographed
24:09asleep on a couch
24:11as though he was bored
24:13with the news meeting
24:14that he was sitting in on.
24:15As it turned out,
24:16he had been up all night
24:17on an assignment
24:18and was exhausted.
24:20He just had this
24:21kind of rebellious streak
24:22that was always manifesting
24:23in different ways.
24:25For example,
24:26he somewhat infamously
24:27dropped out of school
24:28for a while
24:29to follow the Grateful Dead
24:30on tour.
24:32That was something
24:33that was used
24:33to sort of mock
24:34and ridicule him.
24:35And Lachlan
24:36was dutifully
24:37kind of taking
24:38the measure
24:38of his younger brother's
24:39missteps.
24:47If there's any such thing
24:48as the New York
24:49establishment,
24:50here it is
24:51from the wonderful
24:51worlds of politics,
24:53commerce,
24:54labor,
24:54and industry.
24:55Their guest on this
24:56occasion,
24:57Rupert Murdoch.
24:58Ladies and gentlemen,
25:00I appreciate
25:01your invitation
25:03to appear
25:04before such a
25:05distinguished group.
25:07By the 1980s,
25:10Rupert's pretty
25:10triumphant.
25:12He's got this
25:13wonderfully influential
25:14right-wing tabloid
25:15at a time
25:16when the city
25:16is ripe for it.
25:17The role of a newspaper
25:19should be
25:19to provoke debate.
25:21No apologies
25:21for anything.
25:24The Murdoch Empire
25:25is sprawling
25:27with assets
25:28in the U.S.,
25:29U.K.,
25:29and Australia.
25:35Rupert wants
25:36to have real power,
25:37and he recognizes
25:38that that kind
25:39of power comes
25:40not just through
25:41news,
25:42but through
25:43shaping politics.
25:45He's got
25:46a giant goal
25:47in mind,
25:48and he can only
25:49get it with the help
25:50of powerful politicians.
25:53And so he starts
25:55making friends
25:56with the biggest
25:56names in New York
25:57society.
25:59Rupert and
26:00Donald Trump
26:01are in the same
26:02ecosystem.
26:07And Roy Cohn
26:09is there.
26:10Roy Cohn
26:12is the famous
26:12advisor of Donald
26:14Trump,
26:14who gives him
26:15the playbook
26:16of how the media
26:17works and how
26:18to be the person
26:19he is today.
26:21I would do
26:22anything that is
26:23legally permissible
26:24to get my client
26:26to win.
26:28Cohn tells
26:29Rupert about
26:30backroom deals
26:31and who's
26:32in power
26:33and who's
26:33not.
26:34Cohn gets him
26:35in touch
26:36with Roger Stone.
26:37They're the
26:38New York
26:39Republicans
26:39behind Reagan.
26:41We will
26:42make America
26:44great again.
26:45Thank you
26:46very much.
26:49Rupert is
26:50keen to turn
26:51the political
26:52influence that
26:53he has as
26:54a media proprietor
26:55into commercial
26:57advantage.
26:59So he gets
27:00behind a politician
27:01in a way that
27:01the New York Post
27:02hadn't ever really
27:03done.
27:05Governor, are you
27:06prepared to take
27:07the Constitutionals?
27:08I am.
27:09You place your
27:10left hand on the
27:10Bible and raise
27:11your right hand.
27:12There's a lot
27:13Rupert needs,
27:14and he can only
27:15get it from a
27:16friendly presidential
27:17administration.
27:21What Rupert wants
27:23to do is unheard
27:23of, at the
27:25time a brazen
27:26idea.
27:28He wants to
27:29start a fourth
27:29television network.
27:32This was a time
27:33where you can't
27:34imagine it because
27:34today there's so
27:35much media
27:36everywhere, but
27:37at that time
27:38there was only
27:39the three networks.
27:42This is CBS.
27:44This is ABC.
27:45History and logic
27:46say a fourth
27:47broadcast network
27:48is a long shot,
27:49but Rupert Murdoch
27:50doesn't always
27:51play the percentages.
27:52If we put it off,
27:53it'll be a real
27:54feather in our cap.
27:56There were these
27:57regulations that
27:58made it hard for
27:58someone like
27:59Rupert Murdoch
27:59to waltz in and
28:01say, I'm going to
28:01start a network.
28:02For instance,
28:03you couldn't have
28:04a television station
28:06and a newspaper
28:07in the same city.
28:08You couldn't have
28:09more than X number
28:10of stations in the
28:10whole country.
28:12So who's going
28:13to help Rupert
28:14pull this thing
28:15off?
28:17The Reagan
28:18administration
28:19essentially gave
28:20Rupert Murdoch,
28:21let's call it
28:22an easement.
28:24He's able to
28:25get a waiver
28:26so that he can
28:27own both a paper
28:29and a television
28:30station in the
28:31same market.
28:31And then he had
28:32to become an
28:33American citizen
28:34to own a broadcast
28:35network.
28:35Media magnate
28:36Rupert Murdoch
28:37today renounced
28:38his Australian
28:39citizenship to
28:39become an American.
28:41He goes in a
28:41back door in a
28:42New York City
28:43federal courthouse.
28:44And emerges
28:44the same day
28:45with his
28:45citizenship in
28:46hand.
28:47Like that's
28:48what happens
28:48when you help
28:49Ronald Reagan
28:49get elected.
28:50Would you be kind
28:51enough to stop
28:51for a moment
28:52and give us
28:53three or four
28:53questions?
28:54I've got nothing
28:55behind at all.
28:55You'll see this
28:56time and time
28:57again in his
28:58career.
28:58It's always about
28:59picking the right
29:00politician to get
29:01the regulation out
29:02of his way to get
29:02the thing he needs
29:03for the next
29:04conquest.
29:05Rupert is
29:06learning how to
29:07use power.
29:08And boom, the
29:10Fox Network was
29:11born.
29:23Fox wants to
29:24become an
29:25alternative for
29:26viewers bored with
29:27standard network
29:28fare.
29:29The three networks
29:30did the same
29:30thing.
29:31They offered the
29:31same hot dog.
29:32Isn't he cute?
29:33I call him
29:34Scotty.
29:35And these guys
29:36are like,
29:36hamburgers, time
29:37for hamburgers.
29:41Rupert really hit it
29:42out of the park
29:43with Fox Network.
29:44Welcome to Men
29:46on Film.
29:47Oh, there was
29:47nothing like it.
29:48Ow!
29:49The comedy shows
29:51had the snarkiness
29:52and attitude.
29:53Take a picture of
29:54me so he can
29:54remember me when
29:55I was beautiful.
29:57What, you're
29:57going to get worse?
29:59Brash shows play
30:00to the same kind
30:01of interests that
30:02might appeal to a
30:03tabloid newspaper
30:03viewer.
30:04Shut up and
30:05take the picture.
30:09He took from
30:10the New York Post
30:11this populist
30:11tendency and put it
30:13on steroids.
30:13Eat my shorts,
30:14lame-os!
30:17Fox, under
30:18Rupert Murdoch,
30:19created a market
30:20for television
30:21that did not exist.
30:23Seems to have
30:23made us very popular
30:24with the viewers
30:25and very unpopular
30:26with our competitors.
30:27And that's a pretty
30:28good place to be.
30:30Rupert shook
30:31things up.
30:32He put the whole
30:33empire at risk.
30:35And the public
30:35rewarded him for it.
30:39With his success
30:41in film and TV,
30:43Rupert and Anna
30:44moved to Los Angeles
30:45to run these
30:46companies.
30:48Meanwhile, James
30:49was enrolled in
30:50an elite prep school
30:52in Manhattan.
30:53And so he stayed
30:55behind for basically
30:56all of his teenage
30:57years, living alone
31:00in this penthouse
31:01with Butler George.
31:07just kind of doing
31:08whatever he wanted.
31:10And he and his best
31:12friend were allowed
31:13to run wild
31:15in this penthouse.
31:16They would have
31:17people over
31:18and got into
31:19a lot of trouble.
31:22But I think
31:23even then,
31:24James knew
31:25that he would be
31:26forced to work
31:27for the family
31:28business one day.
31:31Well, now,
31:31I guess you all
31:32know that the
31:32newspaper business
31:33can be a funny
31:34business.
31:35To my next guest,
31:36it happens to be
31:37a family business.
31:38She's the wife
31:39of probably the
31:39richest and the
31:40most controversial,
31:41also maybe the
31:42most influential,
31:42media mogul in the
31:43world.
31:44Would you please
31:44welcome Anna Murdoch?
31:56Nice to see you
31:57again.
31:57It's nice to be
31:58with you.
31:59Now, listen,
31:59the book is
32:00family business.
32:01Why would
32:02Anna Murdoch
32:03write a book
32:04about an
32:05international media
32:06mogul?
32:07That's a very
32:08obvious question.
32:13Anna famously
32:14wrote a novel
32:15called Family
32:16Business that
32:18sort of closely
32:19mirrored some
32:20of the facts
32:21of the Murdoch
32:21family.
32:23In this novel,
32:24the Rupert Murdoch
32:25character is
32:26actually a woman
32:27who, like
32:29Rupert, is
32:32incredibly
32:32passionate about
32:33newspapers and
32:34knows every
32:36detail of the
32:36process.
32:39And she has
32:40three kids that
32:41have all got
32:42claims to the
32:44business and
32:45and it shows
32:46how the succession
32:47could end in tears.
32:49I wanted to show
32:50the breakup within
32:51the family that I
32:52think power and
32:53money can actually
32:55affect sibling
32:57relationships.
32:59You have all these
33:00little fiefdoms and
33:01people arguing among
33:02themselves.
33:04I think Anna was
33:05almost a Cassandra
33:07figure in all of
33:08this.
33:10She was very prescient
33:11in knowing that
33:13this kind of
33:14inheritance was
33:16going to become a
33:16problem.
33:18And I think she was
33:19kind of advising
33:20Rupert in this novel
33:21that no good would
33:23come of it.
33:25How important is it
33:26for News Corporation
33:27to stay in family
33:30hands?
33:31To whom?
33:32How important to whom
33:33is the question.
33:35The thing about men
33:37like Rupert is that
33:40they say that they're
33:42doing everything for
33:43their family and
33:44they're building this
33:44family empire.
33:45But at the end of the
33:46day, the empire always
33:48takes precedent over the
33:49family.
33:52He says, I want one
33:54of my children to
33:54succeed me, but he
33:56doesn't say how they
33:57should succeed him,
33:58what exactly they need
33:59to do in order to get
34:01that brass ring.
34:05And it sets up
34:06exactly the dynamic
34:08that Anna didn't want.
34:12This sort of rivalry
34:13among the kids.
34:15It's like Hunger Games,
34:17Murdoch style.
34:19From the time that
34:21we were very small,
34:22this is one of the
34:24other lessons that
34:24Dad taught me, it has
34:25been very clear that
34:27you have to control
34:27your own destiny.
34:30Elizabeth is running
34:31her own TV stations
34:32in America.
34:33She makes some
34:34decisions that people
34:35don't like.
34:36Elizabeth takes a page
34:38out of her father's
34:39playbook.
34:40She sacks people
34:41that have been around
34:41a long time.
34:42She pisses quite a few
34:44people off, but she
34:46makes a success of
34:46those TV stations and
34:48sells them at a great
34:50profit.
34:51Rupert respects that
34:53and really sees her as
34:55a capable executive.
34:58She's maybe even a
34:59role-worthy protege.
35:02And then she says
35:03she's going to go and
35:03do an MBA.
35:05And Rupert brings her
35:06up and says, what do
35:07you mean do an MBA?
35:08Come and work for me.
35:11You'll learn much more.
35:14So she goes and works
35:15with her father in
35:16Britain.
35:19My father is remarkable
35:20in what he's achieved.
35:21I'll work as hard as I can
35:23to do as much as I can
35:24and take one challenge
35:26at a time.
35:28Lachlan moves to Brisbane
35:30and becomes junior
35:31manager at Rupert's paper,
35:33The Courier Mail.
35:37Lachlan is elevated
35:39incredibly quickly to
35:40positions of power.
35:42He's running the
35:43Queensland newspapers at
35:44the age of 22 years old.
35:46He's young.
35:47He's good-looking.
35:49He's fabulously rich.
35:51Arguably, he's the most
35:53eligible bachelor in the
35:54country.
35:54With him today, his
35:55heir apparent, son Lachlan.
35:57Lachlan Murdoch has made
35:58a faster rise to the top
36:00than Tiger Woods.
36:01Have your dad ever had
36:02this conversation with
36:03you, someday you'll run
36:03this company?
36:04No, no.
36:05He, uh, my father's
36:06focused on, you know,
36:07the day-to-day.
36:08By the mid-90s, he has
36:10essentially been handed
36:12the whole of the
36:13Australian empire.
36:14And even though Rupert
36:16officially says that any
36:18of the kids could
36:19succeed him, it seems
36:22like Lachlan is his
36:23favorite.
36:25Is there now an
36:26acceptance that your
36:28elder brother Lachlan
36:29will take over
36:29eventually?
36:31Um, I don't think
36:32that's really, you
36:34know, that's really not
36:35an issue that I concern
36:35myself with.
36:36As I said, I...
36:37Lots of other people
36:37concern themselves with.
36:38That's their business.
36:41James decided that he
36:43doesn't want to be part
36:43of the company, that he
36:44wants to make his own
36:46way.
36:48James drops out of
36:49Harvard, and he goes
36:51out and he finds
36:52raucous records, seeking
36:54to show that he has a
36:55sensibility for a new
36:56generation.
36:58James is trying
36:59desperately to prove
37:01himself as an outsider.
37:03His father probably
37:04didn't even know what
37:05hip-hop was.
37:06You know, he was like
37:07the hip Murdoch.
37:10He wore an earring,
37:11so we knew he was
37:12cool.
37:15All these kids know
37:16they have to shine and
37:18impress their father.
37:20But it's clear that he's
37:21not just going to give
37:22up this umpire.
37:24There was more to do.
37:26Another chapter to
37:27write.
37:29I want to say what I'm
37:30doing as long as I'm
37:31physically fit.
37:32I don't think my
37:33children are ready yet.
37:35They may not agree with
37:36that, but I'm certainly
37:37planning to make them
37:38wait several more years.
37:44Good morning, everyone.
37:45I'm Aleister Castellini.
37:47And I'm going to
37:48you're right topping our
37:48news this morning.
37:51That's great.
37:51Congratulations.
37:53When do you think we'll
37:53get back to you?
37:55By the late 90s,
37:57Rupert Murdoch has enjoyed
37:58an enormous amount of
38:00success in the U.S.
38:05He has 20th Century Fox,
38:07movie studios, television.
38:09He is a legitimate mogul,
38:12and he has the ear of
38:14politicians.
38:15Hello, Mr. Maynard.
38:16Hello again.
38:17How are you?
38:17He is at the top of his game.
38:22Rupert is in his late 60s,
38:24and Anna has been waiting
38:26for years now for Rupert
38:28to retire, to start their
38:29own life together.
38:31Anna had been suggesting
38:32that Murdoch step back
38:34from the company and prepare
38:36one of their children to
38:37succeed him.
38:38He didn't want to do that
38:40at all.
38:40He was just getting started.
38:43He's getting a little antsy
38:45and decides to check out
38:48his Asia operations.
38:51While he is traveling on a
38:53tour through China,
38:56Rupert meets a young woman
38:58named Wendy Dang.
39:02She had a junior role
39:04at his company.
39:06Suddenly, Rupert is
39:08unavailable.
39:10You know, he says that he
39:11was scouting properties
39:12or traveling.
39:14Eventually, people on
39:16his staff start noticing
39:17that he's showing up
39:19with Wendy Dang here and
39:20there.
39:22It's clear pretty quickly
39:24that a friendship is
39:25blooming.
39:26Anna will say outright later
39:28that it was an affair.
39:30Rupert will deny it's an
39:31affair.
39:35He came back from Asia
39:37and set up a board meeting.
39:40Where he rather abruptly
39:41announced that he was going
39:44to divorce his second wife,
39:46Anna Torf Murdoch, and that
39:48she was going to be relinquishing
39:49her spot on the company board.
39:52Not long afterwards, he was
39:53telling his children that he'd
39:55met a nice Chinese lady.
39:57He wrote me up and said,
39:58oh, and by the way, I've met
39:59this lady.
40:00I couldn't believe it, actually.
40:02I just thought, you dirty old
40:04man.
40:04Both Lachlan and James tried
40:06to convince Rupert not to be
40:08with Wendy.
40:09They are just aghast that Rupert
40:12would betray their mother in
40:14this way.
40:15This is a great shock to the
40:17rest of the family.
40:18And this was deeply
40:19humiliating for Anna.
40:22The wife of the media tycoon
40:23Rupert Murdoch filed for divorce
40:25in California today.
40:27The divorce papers show that
40:28Mrs. Anna Murdoch doesn't know
40:30how much her husband's business
40:31interests are worth, but she
40:33means to find out.
40:35Their divorce exposes the
40:36assets of one of the world's
40:38richest men.
40:39News Corporation's share price
40:40dropped 27 cents.
40:42Of concern, the impact the
40:44separation could have on the
40:45future ownership of the
40:46company.
40:46The stage may be set for the
40:48biggest divorce settlement ever.
40:53Because the divorce is filed in
40:56California, Anna will be
40:57entitled to half of all the
41:01wealth Murdoch built over the
41:03course of their 30 years
41:04together.
41:07But throughout the whole
41:09building of the empire and the
41:11raising of the kids, she has
41:13been focused on one thing far
41:14more than money.
41:16And that's how this succession
41:18battle is going to play out
41:19between the children.
41:19She saw the way that Rupert
41:23pitted them against each other,
41:24and she didn't want that to
41:25become the defining aspect of
41:28their lives.
41:29So she decides to use her power
41:32to secure her children's control
41:34over the company going forward.
41:37And that's when she negotiates to
41:39set up the Murdoch family trust.
41:44Instead of going for half of his
41:46assets, which she might have been
41:47entitled to, she took only, I'll
41:50use that in quotes, only $110
41:52million and created a trust where
41:56all of the children will, in
41:58tandem together, decide the fate of
42:00the family business.
42:04The trust gives Rupert four votes and
42:08his children, Elizabeth, James,
42:10Lachlan, and Prudence, one vote each
42:13until Rupert dies.
42:16And then the four of them will have
42:18equal control over the company in the
42:20future.
42:22Having equal control among four
42:24siblings is not a great idea.
42:26They could deadlock, and that could
42:29make it impossible for the company to
42:30make decisions.
42:32But I think he just trusts that it's
42:35fine, I'll deal with it later, I'll
42:37kick this can down the road.
42:41Until that moment, Rupert Murdoch has
42:44full control of his destiny.
42:46He controls the companies, he will
42:48choose his successor, but Rupert is
42:51eager, perhaps over eager, to move on
42:54with the next chapter, and in pursuit
42:57of a second life, and a much younger
43:00wife, he gives up control of his
43:02empire.
43:04It's a fateful decision that will
43:07change the entire dynamic in the
43:08Murdoch family.
43:10This is the moment.
43:11The beginning of a battle that would
43:14define the family for decades.
43:17The next day.
43:28The end.
43:29The end.
43:32The end.
43:35The end.
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