Rupert Murdoch is trying to set his legacy using his family trust, and thousands of Australians are following in his footsteps. A year ago, the federal Treasury called out the growing number of trusts – and this year, the number of beneficiaries has grown by 200,000. Murdoch is no longer an Australian citizen, so the rules are different – but the end game is the same.
Fund your legacy. The New York Times this week revealed Murdoch is locked in a secret legal battle against three of his children over the future of the family’s media empire. Rupert Murdoch is moving to ensure that his son Lachlan remains in charge of his empire.
Credit: Getty Images “If an autocrat who has spent 70 years telling everyone what to do, including the leaders of governments in democracies, decides he wants to push three of his adult children off his plane, of course he will do it. And to him, it will feel just like normal behaviour,” says Eric Beecher, a former editor in the Murdoch empire, whose new book, The Men Who Killed The News , will be published next week. Now, it’s a combination of Succession, with a touch of Downton Abbey .
Who gets to keep what and why does it matter? Honestly, what is it with the wealthy? We’ve already had a similar drama play out with local wealth hounds, the Rineharts, with mother Gina pitted against her kids over zillions of dollars. The University of Melbourne’s Katy Barnett, a law professor and an expert on trusts, says these cases give us an insight.