The majority of businesses in operation are private companies and they are owned by families. If you think about English Kings, the King needed a male heir to continue the blood line to maintain the place as King of the country. Similar to all successful companies, over time assets build up and the desire to maintain the assets in the family eventually is a dominate theme. The founder or Chair of the family will have their choice for different reasons. Most of the time the issues are fought over in private, but once in while it is possible to see the fights in public.

In an article by Jim Rutenberg and Jonathan Mahler of the New York Times News Service, one of the battles is being fought in public. Rupert Murdoch owns media interests in Australia, the UK and the US and became an American citizen when he bought the Fox Network.

The Murdoch’s are fortunate that the children of Rupert have turned out to be good seasoned executives, but Mr. Murdoch’s political leanings are to the right, and he believes most of his children are in the center, he wants someone leaning right. The eldest son Lachlan fits the mold.

In major disputes, eventually one parties sues the other party and then the information becomes public or before a judge. In this case, Mr. Murdoch’s other children – James, Elizabeth and Prudence were caught off guard with a change in the trust agreement and have sued. They sued in Nevada. The lawsuit has changed relations with the children and Mr. Murdoch and only Lachlan attended a wedding between Mr. Murdoch and his 5th wife Elena.

The suit is in Nevada, because the state is popular for dynastic family trusts because of favorable probate bylaws and privacy protections. The court specializes in family trusts and estate disagreements.

When Mr. Murdoch sold some of the Fox Network to Disney for $71.3 billion, all the children received $2 billion each.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, all organizations invariably deal with succession planning and who is become the chief decision maker. Sometimes in the news 2 companies announce they will merge, but it falls apart largely based on who will be in charge in a year or so. The issue is not about money, it is about decision making. The wonderful thing about succession planning is everyone can have an opinion on who should be the next CEO or President and why. If you like the result, you can keep your shares, if not, then finding alternatives is a good thing to do.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.