MUMBAI: This is one battle he lost but he says he intends to fight it. 93 year old media baron Rupert Murdoch is one tough guy. Even at his age.

He wanted to change the family trust, which gave his  four children equal voting rights to his empire, so that control would vest in his eldest son Lachlan’s hands who shared his right wing political beliefs. But he lost the case over the weekend when a Reno-Nevada probate commissioner  ruled against him and said he was acting in bad faith, when he tried to change the terms of the irrevocable trust and leave Lachlan in charge. 

Murdoch owns 40 per cent of the voting stock in both Fox Corp and News Corp through the trust.  Upon his death James, Elisabeth , Lachlan and Prudence were to share control  of the trust equally. But the old man  wanted to change the terms of the trust  and put Lachlan, the CEO of Fox and chairman of News Corp  fully in charge upon his death. This was something his other children were not inclined to.

Hence, they took their father to court in Nevada which was a probate court and was not open to the public. Earlier, a probate commissioner had told Murdoch senior that he could change the terms if what he was attempting to do was in good faith and in the best interests of his heirs. Murdoch senior had argued that were his other three children – Prudence, James and Elisabeth - to have voting power, they  would lean towards making his news outlets moderate which would harm their prospects as it would alienate the hard right wingers who supported it. 

But the trio did not buy into this as they felt they would be left out and took their father and brother to court in Nevada. A case they won, following which they are now saying they would like mend and heal family relationships. 

However, the family feud does not seem to have ended as the elder Murdoch said he was going to appeal against the probate commissioner’s decision.