elisabeth murdoch

Family businesses are on course to be led by more women, as responsibilities and wealth transfer to the next generation, and the dividends to society and the balance sheet are already clear.

While it is still far more common to see men at the top in family business, and the gender pay gap closes at a glacial pace, some research suggests that inequality is less acute within family-controlled companies than other businesses.

Rupert Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth is set to leave the family media empire, stepping down from the helm of 21st Century Fox subsidiary Shine Group, which she founded in 2001.

She served as chief executive of the British television production company, which delivers shows such as MasterChef and The Biggest Loser, until 2011, when her father’s company bought the business.

She has since served as a chairwoman.

Murdoch family members are unlikely to fill News Corp’s top roles in the future, partly because of Rupert Murdoch’s failure to develop a succession plan, according to a leading family business expert.

“A non-family CEO is likely, but the question is when this will happen,” said Professor Randel S Carlock, who is the Berghmans Lhoist chaired professor in entrepreneurial leadership at INSEAD.

“Murdoch in one way is a classic family businessman – he doesn’t have a succession plan in place,” he said.

Elisabeth Murdoch will not join her father and brothers on News Corporation’s board, following suggestions the Murdoch family were too dominant at the media conglomerate.

After News Corp purchased Elisabeth’s TV production company Shine Group, known for making dramas such as The Tudors and Ashes to Ashes, in February, her father, Rupert Murdoch, said he expected his daughter would join News Corp’s board once the acquisition was completed.