He cares about money/power, and if it means 1 billion people, or more, live under fascism, not just ok by him, but he'll be in the lead pushing the move to get them there -- as he is...
Murdoch's Mean Machine If there was ever an enterprise that needed a Chinese wall -- in this case literally -- it is Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Yet the very concept of such a wall, meant to protect one part of a large conglomerate from the depredations of another, seems foreign to News Corp's chief. Rupert's Rule appears to be that all lines are permeable. And the notion of synergy, so logical and beneficial in many commercial enterprises, takes on a cynical and even malevolent cast when the corporation is a multimedia empire with Murdoch at the helm. This is particularly so in view of News Corp.'s recent boast that through its satellite, broadcast, and cable units, it will soon be able to reach more than three-quarters of the wired world.
///////////// His News is Bad News - The Media Power of Rupert Murdoch A short article discussing the political "meddling" of Rupert Murdoch in politics, using his media outlets as weapons. Murdoch's flagrantly partisan style of journalism was common in the United States a hundred years ago. ...not the result of normal reporting but rather expressions of the publisher's personal political preferences. http://beginnersinvest.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyu.edu%2Fclasses%2Fst...
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Various tidbits:
Newscorp Investments is Rupert Murdoch's main British holding company. Although the group's profits over the past 11 years (up to 1999) add up to £1.4 billion ($2.1 billion), it has paid no net British corporation tax.
In the four years to June 30th last year, News Corporation and its subsidiaries paid only A$325m ($238m) in corporate taxes worldwide. In the same period, its consolidated pre-tax profits were A$5.4 billion. So News Corporation has paid an effective tax rate of only around 6%. By comparison, Disney, one of the world's other media empires, paid 31%. Basic corporate-tax rates in Australia, America and Britain, the three main countries in which News Corporation operates, are 36%, 35% and 30% respectively.
Finding out the specifics of News Corporation's tax affairs is difficult because of the company's complex structure. In its latest accounts, the group lists roughly 800 subsidiaries, including some 60 incorporated in such tax havens as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, the Netherlands Antilles and the British Virgin Islands, where the secrecy laws are as attractive as the climate.
and now he's moving his corp to the US, as a Delaware Corp. Time for paybacks from government -- even more favorable tax scams for Rupert.
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Circa '95 What did Rupert Murdoch want for his $4.5 million investment in Newt Gingrich? The tycoon's past dealings shed some light.
Consistency may be the hobgoblin of small minds--or the result of finding something that works. Take Rupert Murdoch's publishing house, HarperCollins. Not only does the venture make a gratifying amount of money selling books, but evidence suggests that it serves another, less visible function.
For example, HarperCollins sees fit to pay millions of dollars to Jeffrey Archer (former leader of the British conservatives and an influential member of the House of Lords) for novels many critics find of dubious quality. HarperCollins also advanced Margaret Thatcher $5.4 million for her almost unreadable memoirs, and is rumored to have given Deng Xiaoping's daughter, Deng "Maomao" Rong, a cool million for a book the New Yorker described as "a turgid, barely literate piece of propaganda." And finally, HarperCollins ignited a political firestorm when it attempted to give Newt Gingrich $4.5 million for his ruminations on the American political scene.
What do Britain, China, and the United States have in common? In each, Murdoch's enterprises have faced daunting regulatory and political obstacles. In England, Thatcher and her Tories allowed him to buy the London Times without a review from the Monopolies Commission. He also bought a half-interest and control of Britain's only satellite television service, despite the fact that Thatcher's own home secretary found the deal "not technically legal." In China, the politburo recently attempted to ban satellite dishes, which would make Murdoch's STAR TV signal inaccessible to the Chinese; with the ruler's daughter a new member of the HarperCollins' millionaire club, however, things may change. And in the U.S., where Murdoch's Fox TV network is under scrutiny for illegal foreign ownership, the Gingrich connection is of more than passing interest. (Fox's parent company, News Corporation Ltd., is owned by Murdoch's family trust, an Australian entity.)
In December of last year, Newt's literary agent, Lynn Chu, and HarperCollins announced a $2 million book deal for the speaker-to-be. Less than two weeks earlier, Gingrich and Murdoch had their now-famous November 28 meeting--and admitted to touching on the latter's regulatory difficulties--but both denied knowing there was a book deal in the works. Exploded one literary agent, "Chu had a deal going and she didn't tell her own client? That's almost impossible to believe." As for Murdoch, his attention to detail in all his business operations is legendary. As one News Corp. exec says, "If someone mops a floor at one of Murdoch's enterprises, Rupert knows what's in the bucket."
Whatever Gingrich was selling he decided the price was too cheap, and told Chu to get him more money. On December 20 Chu held a book auction for her client. Gingrich has since said that five publishing houses made bids. In fact, only two did.
Bidding was set at HarperCollins' original offer of $2 million. After the auction began, Chu told Doubleday the bidding had reached $3 million, and then $4 million, all indicating hot-and-heavy activity in the trading room. Doubleday never made a bid. Neither did Little, Brown--after they heard that the bidding was in the vicinity of $4 million. Nor did Putnam when Chu told them the price was at $3.7 million. Simon & Schuster tried repeatedly to make a bid, but the price was always moving beyond its grasp. Viking Penguin was the only house other than HarperCollins to actually make a bid, rumored at $4 million--a sum intended to blow away the competition. But HarperCollins carried the day nonetheless, by bidding $4.5 million on the condition that, in addition to his political manifesto, Newt also edit an anthology.
It's hard to understand exactly what happened. The bidding figures had jumped around, indicating activity. But the only bids came from HarperCollins and Viking Penguin. Where was the $3.7 million bid that scared off Putnam and Little, Brown? Was HarperCollins bidding against itself? Was the auction a sham? Only a special prosecutor could know for sure.
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