k rupert murdoch still the renaissance man at 76
The master has not lost his vision , audacity and dealmaking touch as he ages , if anything it has made him more impatient and urgent in seizing the moment. He says he will never retire but is legacy and his mortality at play..
Whatever the motivation , most probably the business of media and loving what he does , he is making more waves.
Not content to be on the verge of a deal to aquire the venerable Dow Jones group for a reported $5 billion and create a formidable financial news and services offering he is also seizing the opportunity the business turmoil and vacuum at Yahoo has created.
How do you top a Dow Jones deal in a honest days work.. well how about suggesting a swap of myspace which he acquired for $580m for a sizable chunk of yahoo reported to be in the 25-30% region. Based on crude calculations this could net News Corp a cool 1800+% return.
Clearly not a done deal but enough to get lots of tongues wagging and speculation on benefits all around?.
So what’s in store next week?.
Dear Paul
Why don’t people learn from history?
Rupert is single-mindedly doing what he’s always done: Building a Media empire of which the world has seen no parallel. I think it is wonderful that his enthusiasm and appetite is undiminished….and for those detractors, there are very few people who have worked for him in the past who wouldn’t jump at the chance to do so again if they received ‘The Call’
- how about you Paul, remember 1982?
My long term client, and much missed friend,
GRAHAM KING devised many of the promotions that swept Rupert’s newspapers to success across the globe. One of his many stories about life in the early (Australian) days of News Corp was:
“There was a small television station in Wollongong, which is a small town about 40 miles south of Sydney, and it went broke. It went bankrupt and Rupert negotiated to take it over. But it wasn’t the station itself that interested him because it had a small rural audience which was never going to make a huge amount of money. What he did was to point the transmitter towards Sydney and threaten the big Sydney operators. If a door was closed to him, he kicked it in or found a key somewhere or other”.
In answer to your question: “What’s in store next week?” therefore I can accurately tell you -nobody knows except for Rupert, but whatever it is, it won’t be for the faint hearted.
Paul ,
So great to hear from you. What great times we had back then. Hope all is well.
The great media story continues and we wait with baited breath for ruperts next move. a greater story than citizen kane .. wonder if fox would ever greenlight that and who would play the great man?.
send your new coordinates if you read this.
v best
Paul