The family of billionaire News Corp founder Rupert Murdoch is privately battling over succession plans in Nevada. Will they be able to keep the courtroom sealed? Plus, what sparked the curious Wall Street Journal profile of Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro?
The eldest boy? The Murdoch family is fighting over the succession plans of the patriarch, Rupert, who chose first-born son Lachlan as Chairman of News Corp last year. “Rupert wants to cut out three of his children, Elisabeth, James, and Prudence — who we never hear from — and put the power over his estate when he finally passes on,” Belloni explains.
A family affair? As the Murdochs are currently keeping hush hush in a Nevada courtroom, a number of media organizations have petitioned the court to unseal the case documents. “They want not just no cameras in the courtroom, they want the entire records of the proceeding kept secret and not revealed to the public,” Belloni says. “They want the doors potentially barricaded during any testimony that is given in this case. They want the media absolutely excluded from this procedure. And obviously the Murdochs have a very well known reputation for owning media outlets that would take the opposite stance on that issue.”
Is Disney’s CEO bake-off heating up? As Disney CEO Bob Iger searches for a successor, Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro is looking to find a leg up on candidates Dana Walden, who co-chairs the company’s Entertainment division, and ESPN Chairman James Pitaro. “He is one of the competitors in the bake-off that is going on because Bob Iger really will have to retire this time… I think,” Masters jokes. “This piece, it was a very, very positive piece. And Josh D’Amaro has kept normally kind of a low profile. Suddenly, he's out there. [But] one of the raps against him is [that] he's not a creative executive. In fact, he has the job that Bob Chapek had and we saw how well that went.”