A titanic family struggle is waging amongst another tribe where sibling rivalry could break out into open warfare when the patriarch dies. The Murdoch clan is braced for a bitter fall out with the two senior sons, the named successor Lachlan and spurned James at odds, with sisters Prue and Elisabeth, who also have a say, keeping their loyalties veiled pro tem.
Plans to merge Fox and News Corp which is causing angst amongst other shareholders is thought to be a Lachlan move to shore up his control but is likely to run into heavy opposition from left-wing, liberal-minded James.
An insider said “There is going to be a lot of jockeying for position and a lot of ugliness, and Lachlan will not get away with maintaining the status quo.” Rupert Murdoch himself acknowledged in 2000, “If the kids fought hard enough, the whole thing would break down; there is no mechanism against that happening.”
What doesn’t help – though it is intriguing – is that all four siblings have their Mars in a different Fixed sign, all in hard aspect to each other. Lachlan has Mars in ornery Aquarius, James Mars in vengeful Scorpio, Elisabeth Mars in flamboyant Leo and Prue Mars in Taurus. All are heavyweights, not inclined to budge when the chips are down.
Lachlan, 8 September 1971, a Sun Venus in Virgo, clashes with James, 13 December 1972, whose Sagittarius Sun opposition Saturn squares Lachlan’s Sun Venus – a chilly, critical interface. Their relationship chart has a struggle-to-the-death composite Pluto square Mars with no quarter given – tr Neptune Saturn in Aries in 2025 will stretch that dislike to the limit.
Lachlan does fare better with Elisabeth, 22 August 1968, since her Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Pluto in Virgo favour his Virgo Sun though there is still a ratchety, irritable composite Mars Saturn conjunction in their relationship chart so not all sweetness and light.
But Elizabeth fares even less well with James since that relationship chart has a composite Mars Pluto conjunction which is being undermined between now and 2025.
Prue’s birth date is questionable – maybe 12 August 1958 from a genealogy site. If accurate it makes her a feisty Sun Uranus in Leo trine Saturn and square Mars. She won’t be seeing eye to eye with Lachlan over the next two years.
Being born into a dynasty isn’t all champagne and roses.
It strikes me as curious that we all have an opinion on Harry and the royals even though the Murdochs have far more power and influence over our lives than all of them put together. With politicians kowtowing to RM to gain or keep his support and thus remain in power, plus all the EU bashing he did that created the climate for Brexit. If anyone is responsible for creating the divisions in our society which have brought us to where we are now (in all English speaking countries where he has an important stake in the mass media) it is Rupert Murdoch. Like Putin, he pulls his strings to get what he wants whenever he wants. Ted Turner is right about him.
@SuHu, I think this is due to Celebrity Culture. Royals are celebrities, and there’s a lot if projection going on, as always. Family drama is easy to understand and relate to. Murdochs, and even Putin to a certain extend, exist in a much more complex context. As a person with strong Plutonian/Saturnian influence and interaction, I’ve personally always been interested in power, personal and structural one, and must say I have intuitive understanding on how power is wielded. However, I’ve notice majority of people do not actively think about these matters.
The EU bashing isn’t only the Murdoch family, the Barclay’s with the Telegraph and the DM is also owned by a very anti EU owner. The EU was not perfect, yet we were strong within it. Even the BBC/Guardian appear to have some sort of alliance. Perhaps Marjorie would look at how our media/ papers are going to shape up under the influence of Pluto transiting Aquarius.
With Jupiter conj. Neptune in the 1st house square Mercury conj. Midheaven I suspect that Lachlan tends to overestimate his own abilities and/or the strength of his position, which in the midst of a struggle with his siblings may lead to him pulling the edifice of News Ltd down. We can only hope.