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There’s a reason tech billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk splurged their riches on The Washington Post and Twitter: media is power. Just ask the Roy family in HBO’s hit drama Succession. The fictional clan will do everything to maintain control of their media empire at Waystar Royco. They’ve been high on the wealth and power their news and media outlets have been providing for two generations; not even hostile takeovers or a failing market can scare them away.
Succession has been captivating audiences since 2018 with how real the Roys navigate their complicated personal and corporate affairs. And if the family sometimes feels all too familiar, it’s because creator and showrunner Jesse Armstrong took inspiration from real people. The main dynasties featured on the HBO series—the Roy, Pierce, and Furness families—are loosely based on billionaire clans in the media industry.
The Roy Family: The Murdoch Family of News Corp.
At the heart of the series is the dysfunctional Roy family. Logan, the Scotland-born patriarch, found his start in media at his uncle’s print shop in Canada. Succession doesn’t reveal how he forged a path in global media. But we do know that he founded Waystar Royco 50 years ago and turned it into one of the most successful media conglomerates in the world. When you boil it down, the premise of Succession is choosing the next CEO of the company among his children.
Plenty of details about the Roys bear resemblance to the Murdochs of News Corp. They own several publishing and media outlets all over the world, including The Wall Street Journal and Fox Corporation, and have been accused of using their position to stifle American democracy.
The 92-year-old Rupert Murdoch is known for his unparalleled gut instincts and take-no-prisoners approach to business. Throughout the decades as CEO, he has made a series of aggressive expansions and acquisitions that turned News Corp into one of the largest media groups in the world. Sound familiar? I think so.
The Australian-born media mogul has also put his children through a Succession-esque competition for the top seat. Lachlan Murdoch has been the heir apparent for many years, but a shocking resignation in 2005 earned him the prodigal son nickname. When he returned, he and his brother James became the co-chairmen of 21st Century Fox. It’s similar to how Kendall and Roman Roy shared the COO title in Waystar after Kendall rejoined the company.
Meanwhile, Elisabeth Murdoch, Rupert’s daughter with his second wife, was never truly given a shot at being his successor despite being described as the most business-savvy among his children. Succession’s Shiv Roy faced a similar struggle, with her dad constantly undermining her ability to lead the company forward. Additionally, the eldest children in both families, Connor Roy and Prudence Murdoch, are largely disengaged from the family business by choice.
The story of the Murdoch family, from their Machiavellian father to their Darwinian ascension to the throne, is very much reminiscent of the family at the center of Succession.
The Pierce Family: The Sulzberger Clan of the New York Times
Season 2 of Succession introduced the Pierces, who own the competing media conglomerate PGM. Logan has had his eye on acquiring the firm, but his attempts were never successful. And before his death in Season 4, he enters a bidding war for PGM with his own children.
The deciding vote in this deal is Nan Pierce. Although she seriously considered selling to Waystar in the second season of Succession, she’s always been wary of the company’s conservative politics. Nan wants to retain editorial control of the fictional The New York Mail, which has been compared to The New York Times.
In real life, the daily newspaper has been headed (but not founded) by the Sulzbergers since 1896. The same is true of the Pierces, who have been running The Mail for generations. And this is largely where the Roys and the Pierces contrast. The Roys are considered new money, and with only two generations in business, they haven’t really reached dynasty status just yet. On the other hand, the Pierces represent the old rich in Succession. They believe in tradition and integrity, which is partly the reason for their reservation about the proposed acquisition.
The Sulzberger dynasty has been running what is considered the nation’s most important newspaper, and they’ve been steadfastly against selling The New York Times. Speculations of a sale arose when Bezos bought The Washington Post, but Arthur Sulzberger, Jr.’s response is something out of the Pierce playbook. In an interview with Times, he said, “The family is united around its ownership and its responsibility to maintaining The New York Times and its journalism and its journalistic integrity.”
The Furness Family: The Redstones of ViacomCBS
Viacom, CBS, Paramount Pictures (now Paramount Global), and National Amusements are among the many ventures of Sumner Redstone. The late media tycoon partly inspired the character of Sandy Furness. And Sumner’s daughter Shari also inspired Sandy’s own daughter Sandi.
If it gets a little confusing, bear with me. Sandy, along with his business partner Stewy, is the reason Waystar is scrambling. They’ve been planning a hostile takeover since the first season. Somewhere along the way, Sandy fell ill, so his daughter Sandi came in to make business decisions in place of her father.
The Furnesses share a similar dynamic with the Redstones of ViacomCBS. Shari has always been the first on Sumner’s line of succession, and when the media tycoon’s health declined, his daughter gradually ascended to an executive position. She proved to be worthy of the role, too, and led National Amusements to major expansions.
Sandi is proving to be the Shari to Sandy’s Sumner and is a key player in the fourth and final season of Succession. In a way, their relationship is a contrast to that of Shiv and Logan. The older Furness may be an enigmatic business figure in the show but there’s a closeness and trust that he shares with his daughter that Logan never had his own.
