Friday, April 06, 2012

James Murdoch: The Rise and Fall of a News Corp Scion

An interesting and unemotional look into the nest of vipers.

James Murdoch: The Rise and Fall of a News Corp Scion

As a story, it has everything: dynastic succession, Oedipal conflict, vaulting ambition, hubris, crisis, catastrophe … read on
Michael Wolff
4 April 2012




On Tuesday, James Murdoch gave up his last claim to BSkyB, the company that most defined him. He had not wanted to leave his job as CEO of the company in 2008, when his father first got the idea that James should instead run the Asian and European operations of News Corp. At BSkyB, only 39% owned by News Corp, James was at a distance from News Corp politics, and, more importantly, from his father's incessant interference.

What's more, BSkyB had made James. At 36, he was running a vast, successful, and rapidly growing media company. The business world had noticed.

But his father had just bought the Wall Street Journal and was moving the long-time head of the company's British subsidiary, News International, and family retainer, Les Hinton, to New York to run it. Rebekah Brooks, the editor of the Sun and herself a family favorite, was scheduled to take over Hinton's job, but Murdoch was not sure she was seasoned enough. He need someone he could trust – not least of all because, at 78, he wanted to travel a lot less and concentrate his attention on his pride and joy, the WSJ.

So why not move James? He absolutely trusted his MBA-talking son (more so, in a sense, because he didn't actually have an MBA, a degree Murdoch scorned). A father could hardly be more proud, almost in awe, of a son. And in truth, it rather rankled him that his son was getting so successful outside the company proper. Murdochs worked for News Corp. Period. Or they should.

And then, the succession: he knew had to maneuver one of his children into the second spot. The last time he had renewed COO Peter Chernin's contract, he'd had to promise Chernin the top job if anything happened to him – a bothersome situation that needed to be corrected.

But James balked. Running the foreign divisions of News Corp, and becoming merely the chairman of BSkyB, was a significantly lesser job than masterminding the growth of the world's most successful satellite broadcaster. So, father and son negotiated: the deal they struck was that if James agreed to come inside News Corp, the company would begin the process of bidding for the rest of the shares of BSkyB that it didn't own – which would, ultimately, put James in charge of the whole megillah.

Initially, Rupert didn't want to tie up all the cash the BSkyB deal would require; nor did he want to have another fight with British regulators. But James was adamant. Most persuasively, he argued that with BskyB, combined with all the other satellite, pay TV assets in Europe and Asia, James would be among the most powerful people in the world television industry – and an obvious and worthy, even inevitable, successor at News Corp. More Guardian

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rebekah Brooks is obviously depraved and beyond help. It is hard to conclude otherwise than ours is a society incapable of discerning the true nature of her illness.

http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/
2012/05/11/hackgate-day-486-a-mad-
vixen-giggles-in-court-3/

Himself said...

Tweeted, thank you.

Anonymous said...

collector’s item

http://www.rebekahbrooks.com/
product/snake-ring

Himself said...

LOL It took a little working out, as I said earlier, I've just fallen out of bed.

Anonymous said...

http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.
com/2012/05/rebekah-brooks-former-
chief-executive.html

Himself said...

I can tell you right now that if this case extends to Fox News that Sean Hannity would turn state's evidence on his employer so fast it would make our heads spin.

LOL

Anonymous said...

Rebekah Brooks is going to help other couples facing infertility problems tgr.ph/L79YZ6, and Kate McCann does child welfare and is opposing paedophiles.

Some women are unaware of their talents. Rebekah would be a great painter’s model and Kate would be the perfect soap actress. Well, it’s never too late to do the right thing, isn’t it.

Himself said...

I wonder if the surrogate will be looking after the sprog when mummy and daddy become "indisposed" at some time in the future?

Anonymous said...

She and Charlie will doubtless be pleased to have Amanda around to help with their childcare issues.
bit.ly/KiM4YM

Anonymous said...

bit.ly/LTA3eE

Himself said...

Interesting, thank you, and tweeted.

Anonymous said...

Breaking Craft News: knitted Rebekah Brooks behind bars
bit.ly/QwukPx

Himself said...

http://www.leftfootforward.org/2012/07/mitt-romney-britain-small-island/

Himself said...

It's a funny old world. LOL

That Romney link was the first one I dropped on last night, never realising the Net and the press were full of it.

Hoe to make friends and influence people!

The American abroad.

Not a pretty sight.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if the surrogate will be looking after the sprog when mummy and daddy become "indisposed" at some time in the future?

No worries, the surrogate is a "very selfless" friend and there is a nanny, although totally traumatised at 5.45am one morning.

http://bit.ly/OyaCPu

Anonymous said...

http://gawker.com/5977130/could-you-be-the-adventurous-woman-scientists-need-to-give-birth-to-the-first-neanderthal-baby-in-30000-years

It's a funny old world.

Himself said...

Bonjour my little Nederlander.

A funny old world? It is indeed, and that includes Forget-me-not.

----------------------------------

Saudi protest, I think if ever a country was ready for an Arab Spring, it has to be Saudi.

But the State apparatus must fearsome. not to mention Uncle Sam's vested interest in the godforsaken place.

----------------------------------

I haven't checked Twitter out yet this morning, I still can't get excited about the "news," the experiences of the last six years having something to do with it.

Time for a trawl.

Later Chuck.

Anonymous said...

It was a tough year for us. Basically, life was put on hold for Iraq. - Rebekah Brooks

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/rebekahs-baby-bid-ross-kemp-failed-over-iraq-war-court-told

Surrogate news:

Speaking about her and husband's decision to use a surrogate, she said: "It's a big thing to do.

...

Anonymous said...

http://thedailybanter.com/2014/02/how-tony-blairs-advice-to-rebekah-brooks-over-phone-hacking-scandal-proves-he-lied-about-iraq-war/

Anonymous said...

CourtNewsUK ‏@CourtNewsUK 28 feb.
Short day in hacking trial today as Rebekah Brooks is tired and needs a rest

Philip Prince
‏@PhilipIndigo
@CourtNewsUK @IWILLNOTGOAWAY Tired of lying, poor thing #phonehacking

http://bit.ly/1hykEQc

Anonymous said...

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2015/sep/08/steve-bells-if-rebekah-brooks-is-back-in-charge

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/hold-on-to-your-mobile-phones-rebekah-brooks-is-back-10488290.html