An anonymous News Corp tipper writes:

Lachlan Murdoch got
done in by the inner senior News Corp executive circle which includes
Peter Chernin, Anthea Disney, John Nallen and finance boss David De Voe.

One.Tel
and the disastrous rugby league failure in Australia, both of which
came under Lachlan’s watch, saw almost $1 billion go on to the wrong
side of the famously tight News Corp ledger. Lachlan never recovered
from those financial disasters despite claims to the contrary by his
dad. Rupe has a prodigious memory and holds grudges, slights and wrongs
long and hard. Lachlan’s power base inside News was severely damaged
from that point on. He lost the respect of the corporate financial and
management animals who saw to it that he could only spin his wheels. He
couldn’t get anything done. He had become a figurehead. The inner
circle acted under the treacherous KRM policy of benign
non-interference. And he was out.

Rupert of course forgives himself for his own financial transgressions, like overpaying $3 billion for TV Guide and Triangle Publications which was a total failure. TV Guide,
which they couldn’t sell, and which has dropped circulation ever since
it was purchased, (from 22 million copies weekly to nine million) has
changed format, dropped its listings content and will, in a matter of
days, become a rabid fan mag. Expected circulation loss? 66%. That
dwarfs Lachlan’s transgressions.

Mitch Stern, who successfully
headed the Fox TV group for years and who had saved the Fox TV group
numerous times, is an independent entity inside News. He is also a pain
in the ass and was tolerated by KRM only because of his sheer ability.
Stern would not have taken Lachlan on board or listened to him – let
alone report to him. While he was at Fox TV Station Group, Stern
seriously irritated Murdoch Snr, but now with the Roger Ailes angle
floated that he take on Fox TV Stations, Stern’s successor Jack
Abernathy may be out. Stern is now at Direct TV reporting to Chase
Carey.

More changes are surely on the way. Lachlan’s New York Post
appointees like Col Allan and Geoff Booth have got to be wondering
about their futures. Col Allan in particular, who’s sink p*ssing antics
and drinking habits were tolerated by Lachlan, just may discover that
this behaviour is radically out of line with American business
sensibilities. None of this is new nor news to News Corp insiders. It’s
business as usual on the third floor at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in
New York City. Finally, this New York Times article from 1 August is very instructive:

In one example of their deteriorating relationship, Lachlan
told someone in close contact with the family that his father dressed
him down in a meeting with other top company executives. And two
people, one a family friend and the other a company executive, said
that Lachlan expressed to them that the final straw was a series of
meetings and discussions his father held, without including his son,
with Jack Abernathy, the president of Fox Stations, the unit of 35
local TV stations that reported to Lachlan. Lachlan, whose office was
next to his father’s, tried repeatedly to express his dissatisfaction
to his father, according to the person in close contact with the family.

CRIKEY: You can read Lachlan’s farewell message to News Limited staff on the Crikey website here.