The sale of a marquee digital media firm on Succession, the HBO sequence that ran from 2018-2023 , was at all times going to finish badly.
When Kendall Roy, heir-apparent to a fictional media conglomerate, bursts into the workplaces of his newly acquired sizzling media startup Vaulter, dripping with billionaire confidence, it doesn’t take a level in dramaturgy to guess the place that is going. The second the Roy household finds out Vaulter could not flip a revenue fairly as rapidly as anticipated, they shut it down and strip it for elements.
Contemplating the Roy household is primarily, almost explicitly based mostly on the Murdoch household of Information Company infamy, it’s onerous to not see the glint of the grim reaper’s scythe within the information that James Murdoch has just purchased half of Vox Media, including all of New York Magazine. It actually appears to be like like a case of life imitating artwork that itself was imitating life.
However studying the tea leaves of actuality is extra difficult than predicting the tip of arcs on Succession, and early indicators counsel doomsayers of the Murdoch deal could also be in for a plot twist.
James Murdoch is (principally) not Kendall Roy
Earlier than delving into the small print of the deal itself, it’s vital to get a way of James Murdoch—the particular person behind the infamous household title.
Very like Kendall and Roman Roy, the Succession siblings performed by Jeremy Sturdy and Kieran Culkin respectively, James and Lachlan Murdoch had lengthy been vying to sooner or later take over their father Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. True to Kendall-form, James is much less dyed-in-the-wool than his father and brother, advocating against climate denial as early as 2009, and he was additionally more interested in new media landscapes. He served as CEO of twenty first Century Fox from 2015 till its sale to Disney in 2019, at which level he broke off from the Murdoch operation to discovered his personal personal funding and holding firm, Lupa Methods.
What occurred subsequent proved as operatic as something on Succession.
In July 2020, James resigned from the Information Corp board, stating in a resignation letter that he was leaving over objections to “editorial content.” Whether or not he was referring to Fox Information’ local weather denialism, COVID misinformation, or ceaseless help of the Trump regime is anybody’s guess. (Given his later work establishing the pro-democracy and climate-focused Quadrivium Foundation, one may safely assume: the entire above.) In any case, the letter signaled James had made an entire break from the Dying Star of his father’s empire.
Within the years since, James has proved himself as an investor who doesn’t observe the slash-and-burn playbook. His Lupa Methods has lent help to Robert DeNiro’s movie and TV firm Tribeca Enterprises, bought a significant stake in Art Basel, and sought media alternatives in emerging markets in India. In the meantime, his brother eventually took control of the remaining Fox Company belongings from his father in 2025, conclusively ending the long-simmering succession drama—and cementing James’ status as “the nice Murdoch.”
Vox and New York Journal are usually not Vaulter
Whereas it may need appeared farfetched a decade in the past for a Murdoch scion to buy the liberal-leaning Vox Media and New York Journal for something apart from nefarious or mercenary causes, James Murdoch’s trajectory of late suggests a sharper strategic focus.
Over the past 15 years, it’s turn into ever extra apparent that digital promoting and search engine referrals are now not viable technique of preserving media corporations afloat—not to mention scaling them. By now, each funding agency ought to perceive that purchasing up a sizzling, many-tentacled media property and trying to cost-cut a path to profits solely ends in Zombie Deadspin. That’s to not say it should by no means occur once more, simply that it could be fairly a selection for somebody with the background and aspirations of James Murdoch in Luke Skywalker mode.
What appears extra seemingly is that Murdoch and the Lupa Methods group acknowledge that Vox Media Community’s personality-driven podcasts, together with On with Kara Swisher, and the hip, conversation-driving verticals of New York Journal characterize the sort of deep and private shopper connection whose worth within the present media panorama goes far past clicks. Making growth-at-all-costs strikes that may mess with the cultural efficiency of those elite manufacturers could be like lighting a dump truck full of cash on fireplace. (Lupa Methods reportedly spent over $300 million on this deal.)
One could possibly be forgiven for assuming the worst, although. Acquisitions of trusted media manufacturers haven’t had a stellar monitor file these days, even aside from the private equity-assisted downfalls of years previous. Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount, for example, rapidly led to a predictable layoff bloodbath, to not point out an ideological overhaul of CBS News that appears to have alienated its outdated viewers without bringing in a new one. Given the Murdoch of all of it, the Vox deal reads on paper like an opportunity for Fox Information to execute a ending transfer on {a magazine} whose namesake is synonymous with East Coast snobbery.
To ensure that that to be the case, although, James Murdoch’s whole profession must be revealed as a convoluted lengthy con spanning a number of a long time.
And that may be a plot twist so farfetched, any Succession author pitching it could’ve been instantly fired.
