What Even Rupert Murdoch Can't Control
Peter Osnos
The Atlantic
Aug 24 2010, 12:00 PM ET
In War at The Wall Street Journal: Inside the Struggle to Control an American Business Empire, Sarah Ellison has written a vivid and, by consensus, definitive account of how Rupert Murdoch came to buy the Dow Jones Company, controlled for more than 100 years by the Bancroft family, for a price nearly double the prevailing market value of the enterprise at the time of his deal in 2007—which also happened to be the start of the worst period in the newspaper business, well, ever. Within a year, Murdoch wrote down the $5.6 billion purchase price by half, but nonetheless he and his intensely committed team re-made The Wall Street Journal into an aggressive, general interest daily and digital platform with a local section for New York and a quarterly magazine designed to feature expensive advertising but virtually no content. In the heavy downdraft of newspaper circulation, the Journal has held its own.
By now, the Murdoch acquisition model is clear to anyone who follows the media landscape. He is a force of extraordinary will. Among his successes through News Corporation are the Fox channels, 20th Century Fox (think Avatar), and HarperCollins, his book publishing company, which is doing as well as any in the industry 15 years after he tried to sell it and couldn't. So what fascinated me about the Ellison book was less the predictable rhythms of the Murdoch takeover than the portrait of the Bancroft family, the sprawling group of cousins whose ownership of Dow Jones gave the "professionals" latitude to produce a great newspaper but an increasingly less formidable purveyor of business information compared to its competitors, Bloomberg and Thomson-Reuters. By the time Murdoch bought Dow Jones, it was clear that the Bancroft's stalwart (but passive) support of their enterprise left the company vulnerable to exactly what Murdoch did—overpay the shareholders, especially the family, and hurl this old-fashioned value driven business into the maelstrom of today's media mayhem.
As with all Murdoch's news ventures, The Wall Street Journal is increasingly a reflection of the proprietor's instincts and ideological bias; whatever his employees may contend, Murdoch's influence is their ultimate guiding spirit. Just last week, News Corporation contributed $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, making it the GOP's largest corporate donor.
(More here.)
The Atlantic
Aug 24 2010, 12:00 PM ET
In War at The Wall Street Journal: Inside the Struggle to Control an American Business Empire, Sarah Ellison has written a vivid and, by consensus, definitive account of how Rupert Murdoch came to buy the Dow Jones Company, controlled for more than 100 years by the Bancroft family, for a price nearly double the prevailing market value of the enterprise at the time of his deal in 2007—which also happened to be the start of the worst period in the newspaper business, well, ever. Within a year, Murdoch wrote down the $5.6 billion purchase price by half, but nonetheless he and his intensely committed team re-made The Wall Street Journal into an aggressive, general interest daily and digital platform with a local section for New York and a quarterly magazine designed to feature expensive advertising but virtually no content. In the heavy downdraft of newspaper circulation, the Journal has held its own.
By now, the Murdoch acquisition model is clear to anyone who follows the media landscape. He is a force of extraordinary will. Among his successes through News Corporation are the Fox channels, 20th Century Fox (think Avatar), and HarperCollins, his book publishing company, which is doing as well as any in the industry 15 years after he tried to sell it and couldn't. So what fascinated me about the Ellison book was less the predictable rhythms of the Murdoch takeover than the portrait of the Bancroft family, the sprawling group of cousins whose ownership of Dow Jones gave the "professionals" latitude to produce a great newspaper but an increasingly less formidable purveyor of business information compared to its competitors, Bloomberg and Thomson-Reuters. By the time Murdoch bought Dow Jones, it was clear that the Bancroft's stalwart (but passive) support of their enterprise left the company vulnerable to exactly what Murdoch did—overpay the shareholders, especially the family, and hurl this old-fashioned value driven business into the maelstrom of today's media mayhem.
As with all Murdoch's news ventures, The Wall Street Journal is increasingly a reflection of the proprietor's instincts and ideological bias; whatever his employees may contend, Murdoch's influence is their ultimate guiding spirit. Just last week, News Corporation contributed $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, making it the GOP's largest corporate donor.
(More here.)
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