This little item caught my eye this morning while catching up with the news. With his son’s recent departure, it appears Rupert Murdoch’s media empire (which includes Fox News) will probably break up after the old man gives up the ghost. Most of it probably won’t even stay in the family.
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp media empire is unlikely to survive intact beyond its founder’s lifetime and will be broken up, according to a former Murdoch lieutenant.
The prediction by Andrew Neil, the ex-Sunday Times editor, follows the decision by Rupert Murdoch’s eldest son, Lachlan, to leave his job as News Corp’s deputy chief operating officer to return to Australia. This has prompted speculation that his younger brother, James, BSkyB’s chief executive, will now inherit the business when his father dies.
But Mr Neil said yesterday that talk of dynastic empire-building after the surprise departure of Lachlan late last week is a sideshow.
"The idea that he’s going to create a dynasty in what is effectively a publicly quoted company … it ain’t going to happen," he said. "They [shareholders] are not going to give the company to someone simply because they have the name Murdoch."
Now, it’s probably too much to hope that Fox News would go away entirely upon Murdoch’s demise, but it’d be nice for the volume to be turned down a little, if nothing else. And, since wealth means health — or at least access to the best health care money can buy — it’s unlikely Murdoch is going anywhere anytime soon.
But, it’s nice to dream, isn’t it?
since wealth means health — or at least access to the best health care money can buy — it’s unlikely Murdoch is going anywhere anytime soon.
We all die one day. It’s just a matter of time.