Rupert Murdoch, 93, is in the eye of a legal storm as several of his children seek to block him changing the terms of a family trust
Rupert Murdoch, 93, is in the eye of a legal storm as several of his children seek to block him changing the terms of a family trust AFP

A US tribunal began picking over the bitter spat between media magnate Rupert Murdoch and his children Monday in a case that could determine the fate of his empire, including the influential right-wing Fox News.

The hearings in Nevada are playing out behind closed doors despite a bid by an alliance of media outlets, including the New York Times, which first reported details of the judicial battle, for access to proceedings.

Murdoch, 93, is in the eye of a legal storm as several of his children seek to block him changing the terms of a family trust to ensure his favored son Lachlan gains control of his sprawling media assets after his death.

It's a plot worthy of the hit fictional TV series "Succession," in part inspired by the Murdoch family, in which a billionaire mogul fights his children over his empire's future.

In Nevada, Murdoch's children James, Prudence and Elisabeth are bitterly opposing changes that would dilute their formerly equal eventual control of Murdoch's companies.

Amid a heavy security presence, Murdoch, who wore a blue spotted tie and held hands with his new wife Elena Zhukova, 67, smiled and shook his head as he entered the colonnaded tribunal, TV images showed.

Observers warn the legal battle will have profound consequences for Murdoch's empire -- which transformed tabloid newspapers, cable TV and satellite broadcasting across multiple countries, but also faces accusations of stoking populism across the English-speaking world.

Critics credit Brexit in Britain and the rise of former US president Donald Trump at least partly to Murdoch and his outlets.

Lachlan is reportedly more aligned with his father's deeply conservative worldview, and took the reins of News Corp and Fox Corporation in the fall of 2023.

His three siblings are said to be more politically centrist.

In a sign of the schism, James, who stood down from News Corp in 2020, has come out in support of Democrat Kamala Harris, facing off against Republican Trump in this year's presidential election.

Rupert Murdoch's lawyers argue he "is trying to protect James, Elisabeth and Prudence by ensuring that they won't be able to moderate Fox's politics or disrupt its operations with constant fights over leadership," according to the New York Times, which accessed court documents.

In a preliminary ruling, the probate tribunal did not oppose a change to the trust in Lachlan's favor, but will nonetheless hear arguments from all sides this week. It will then make recommendations.

News Corp, with revenues of $10 billion in 2023, is a dominating force in publishing through HarperCollins, in US newspapers with the Wall Street Journal and New York Post, and in Britain's cutthroat print market with The Sun and The Times.

Fox Corporation is the parent company of Fox News.

Following the 2020 election, the conservative TV network agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems nearly $800 million after the voting machine company sued it for airing false claims that it rigged the vote against Trump.