Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[fuagf]

"We need to get an SEC that's awake and maybe a few more regulations but not too many," he said.

Mean Murdoch, ever pro regulation when it's for him. Union buster supreme. Read years ago when he was Australian,
he paid less personal income tax than the average working Aussi. Warren Buffet said it openly, Murdoch never would.

Anyway, he is a proud United States citizen now and you are welcome to him. Here, is some
background on Rupert M and then a bit more on another old clutching, grasping, greedy Australian.

By Stephen Mayne

The court of the Sun King is in open revolt. How else can you interpret the extraordinary 9000-word plus New York magazine profile of the Murdoch family soap opera which features all sorts of quotes about how Lachlan and Anna Murdoch "felt" and "thought" at various times during the break down of their relationships with Rupert. The picture they paint ain't pretty.

Rupert runs a notoriously tight ship at News Corp in which criticism of the great man is not tolerated so to receive this orchestrated bucketing from his second wife and eldest son must really cut to the core.

For instance, Anna Murdoch has revealed that she was unceremoniously booted off the board in tears and was accompanied from the room by Lachlan after Rupert declared she was "an embarrassment to everyone else on the board.” That's got to count against Rupert in the eyes of all Anna's children.

John D'Arcy's new book reveals that Rupert's old school mate and News Corporation
chairman Richard Searby QC was also unceremoniously sacked from the board 15 years ago.

What does this mean for Lachlan's spot on the News Corp board given that he has now emerged as someone prepared to tip a bucket on his dad publicly? Rupert sacked his chairman and sacked his wife. Will he tolerate the recalcitrant and disloyal son? Does he have the power to do this?

The 1998 divorce has certainly changed the dynamics at News Corp but with Rupert unilaterally over-riding that agreement by giving Wendi Deng and his infant children more power in the family trusts, the prospects of a major family blow up remain real. The New York magazine profile is a major escalation which has to further destabilise Rupert's 52-year unfettered hold on power.

Despite all the books which have been written about Rupert over the years, never before has so much tightly-guarded family information entered the public domain. For instance, we've got quotes from James Murdoch cursing claims that his older brother was heir apparent:

Publicly, the kids signed off on Lachlan's elevation. Still, an executive who worked for James, younger than Lachlan by
just fifteen months, recalls the day James spotted a newspaper article on his desk talking of Lachlan's ascension.

James grabbed the article from the exec's desk. “He tore it up, crushed it into a ball,
and stomped it on the ground,” recalls the exec. “It's not f*cking true,” James announced.

This sort of disclosure has to cause more bad blood and it seems that literally dozens of News Corp executives have risked upsetting Rupert by co-operating with the magazine, most of them off the record. It is doubtful many of them would survive if caught.

When you've accumulated 52 years of enemies and fired hundreds of executives whilst ruthlessly building a global media empire, there comes a time when enough of them will get together and fire a few shots back. Without a united front from his own family, it almost feels like open season on the Sun King, with Anna and Lachlan leading the charge.

Whether Rupert will be around at the helm of News Corp in 2007 to face his first News Corp board election in decades remains an open question. The iron grip is weakening, but it will take a hell of a battle to blast Rupert Murdoch out of the News Corp boardroom, even though most analysts now believe this would add value to all shareholders.
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7. Kerry Packer's television collusion 20 years ago
By Stephen Mayne

As Kerry Stokes attempts to sue the world, alleging collusion and illegal behaviour by Australia's two richest and most powerful families and various others, it is worth quoting a couple of extracts from a new book by John D'Arcy, the last managing director of the Herald & Weekly Times before News Corporation bought the business for more than $2 billion in early 1987.

D'Arcy is now 75 and much of the book, Media Mayhem: Playing With the Big Boys in Media, was dictated onto tapes and then transcribed so it is a bit rough and ready at times but some of the insights are fascinating. Firstly, let's get a feel for Kerry Packer's understanding of the Trade Practices Act in the mid 1980s:

Kerry rang me one day, not long after I had taken the job in Melbourne (as CEO of HWT in 1985), and suggested we protect the current television stations' ownership of sporting rights in future renewal negotiations. This was to be effected by an agreement between the three commercial networks – 'Keep Off The Grass' (KOG).

Such an agreement was probably not in absolute agreement with the Trade Practices Commission, but made commercial sense, and I agreed on behalf of the HWT and affiliated television companies. Kerry's next request was would I tell "those f*cken b*stards at Fairfax about the deal!"

Fairfax, on behalf of the Seven Network, agreed.

Whilst the Seven Network litigation is a lot more complex than this, various sporting rights owners around Australia should remember that such an approach to business demonstrates how Kerry Packer became Australia's richest man. Packer put in place an illegal collusive arrangement that was to deny every major sporting code a fair market value for their rights.

The statute of limitation has obviously long since expired but ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel would be most interested by such a revelation as he contemplates approving major media mergers next year. Samuel was responsible for extracting the highest price for the AFL's TV rights so he knows how important it is to have a competitive tender process.

http://www.maynereport.com/articles/2008/07/11-1715-4017.html

Kerry Stokes was the interloper, the new guy on the block.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerry_Stokes