Ruperts rogue son James Murdoch makes woke $21m move on Tesla
James Murdoch has sold his stake worth more than $21million in electric car maker Tesla as the company sees a dramatic a stock market slump.
James Murdoch has sold his stake worth more than $21million in electric car maker Tesla as the company sees a dramatic a stock market slump.
Teslas share price has plunged more than 40 per cent this year amid concerns founder Elon Musk is becoming consumed by his role in US President Donald Trumps administration.
Musk is heading up the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which is tasked with cutting back bureaucracy and has earned the nickname First Buddy due to his close friendship with Trump.
On Monday, Murdoch, who has been on the Tesla board since 2017, cashed out of Tesla following other insiders such as chair Robyn Denholm, Elon Musks younger brother Kimbal and finance chief Vaibhav Taneja.
James left-leaning views are no secret having publicly lashed out at Fox News over its rightwing content and refusal to acknowledge climate change.
Its a tension that has been simmering for years with James pledging to take News Corps UK and Ireland operations carbon neutral when he stepped in as boss in 2008.
Just last month, James gave an interview in The Atlantic in which he called his father a misogynist who never considered his sisters as successors in the family business.
Rupert Murdochs audacious bid to cement his eldest son Lachlan as heir to one of the worlds most influential media empires failed in December.
Married couple James and Kathryn Murdoch are pictured here at the 2024 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, California, in March last year
James Murdoch has sold his Tesla shares as the car makers sees a stock market drop amid founder Elon Musks friendship with Donald Trump
The Murdochs command a stable that includes Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and a host of British and Australian media and had been the inspiration for the hit TV series Succession.
Like the fictional version, this real-life fight pitted the children of a powerful patriarch against each other for who should be the face and the voice of the empire after the old man dies.
Murdoch, now 93, had long intended that his children inherit the empire, and jointly decide its direction.
The eldest daughter, Prudence, has had little involvement in the family business, but at various times the other three - Lachlan, James and Elisabeth - have all been considered as successors.
But in recent years Murdoch senior had reportedly grown concerned that Fox News -- the crown jewels of the collection - might drift away from its lucrative right-wing moorings after his death, to reflect the more centrist views of James and Elisabeth.
He had therefore sought to designate Lachlan - who currently heads Fox News and News Corp - as the controlling player in the wider business.
That had required rewriting the terms of an irrevocable trust that passed power to the four siblings jointly, stripping three of them of voting power, while allowing them to continue to benefit financially.
Rupert Murdoch had argued that giving control to Lachlan - who is understood to share his fathers worldview - was in the financial interests of the whole brood.
Rupert Murdoch (C), 93, in December lost his bid to ensure Lachlan Murdoch would control his media empire
Siblings Prudence (left), James (centre) and Elisabeth (right) Murdoch are seen attending a court hearing in Reno, Nevada, last September as part of the family trust dispute
The family intrigue played out behind closed doors in a Nevada courtroom, where Murdoch senior and his four children were understood to have given several days evidence in September.
In a decision filed at the weekend, probate commissioner Edmund J. Gorman Jr. said the father and son had acted in bad faith in trying to rewrite the rules, The New York Times reported, citing a copy of the sealed court document.
The plan to alter the trusts structure was a carefully crafted charade to permanently cement Lachlan Murdochs executive roles.
The effort was an attempt to stack the deck in Lachlan Murdochs favor after Rupert Murdochs passing so that his succession would be immutable, the Times cited the ruling as saying.
The play might have worked; but an evidentiary hearing, like a showdown in a game of poker, is where gamesmanship collides with the facts and at its conclusion, all the bluffs are called and the cards lie face up.
The court, after considering the facts of this case in the light of the law, sees the cards for what they are and concludes this raw deal will not, over the signature of this probate commissioner, prevail.
Murdochs lawyer, Adam Streisand, did not immediately reply to an AFP request for comment.
The ruling is not final, and must now be ratified or rejected by a district judge. That ruling could be challenged, perhaps provoking another round of legal arguments.
The Murdoch familys in-fighting has inspired the hit TV series Succession starring (left to right) Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, Brian Cox, Sarah Snook and Alan Ruck
The complicated structure of the irrevocable trust reflects the colourful familial relationships that shaped Rupert Murdochs life as he built the multibillion-dollar empire.
The trust was reported to have been the result of a deal agreed with his second wife -- mother of Lachlan, Elisabeth and James - who wanted to ensure her offspring would not be disenfranchised by children Murdoch had with his third wife, Wendi Deng.
The Murdoch empire has transformed tabloid newspapers, cable TV and satellite broadcasting over the last few decades while facing accusations of stoking populism across the English-speaking world.
Brexit in Britain and the rise of Donald Trump in the United States are credited at least partly to Murdoch and his outlets.