Rupert Murdoch, News Corp

Friday 16th January 2009

Name: Rupert Murdoch
Company: News Corporation
Industry: Media
Net worth: $8.3bn
Income: $28.6m
Education: Geelong Grammar School/ University of Oxford
Previous appointments: Apprenticeship at the London Daily Express
First job: Junior reporter for the Birmingham Gazette
Big break: Inheriting the Adelaide News from his father, a newspaper proprietor


Rupert Murdoch - CEO of News Corporation - may have had a distinguished newspaper proprietor for a dad. But the Australian born media mogul planned his own rise within the industry in the modest Midlands of England. He entered journalism as a reporter for the Birmingham Gazette before serving an apprenticeship at the Daily Express where he learnt to make money out of newspapers by building circulation.


The formula used throughout his career has involved offering readers and viewers what they want as cheaply as possible.
 His trademark tabloid style has often involved rigid cost controls, giveaways to gain sales, blunt headlines, and a focus on sex, crime, scandal and sport. 
Returning to Australia from England, he revived the Adelaide News that he had inherited after his father's death in 1952.


Through strong leadership and industry knowledge, circulation and advertising revenue began to grow. 
He quickly turned his attention to acquisition and expansion, buying the Sunday Times in Perth, using the same tabloid techniques his father had learnt from his own mentor, Lord Northcliff.
Murdoch launched The Australian in 1964, Australia's first national daily newspaper. 
Its success provided him with the opportunity to buy up newspapers in America and the UK.

Among the first was The News of the World, Britain’s biggest selling Sunday newspaper. 
His move back to the UK proved to be problematic during the 1980s. In an effort to undermine overstaffing that existed among many workers in his London based operations, he confronted the workers’ union. 
In 1986, he introduced electronic production processes to his newspapers in Australia, Britain and the US, which led to thousands of job losses, but massively reduced the cost of publishing.


But by 1991 his company was in debt, largely due to the purchase of the British-based satellite network Sky Television.
 Rapid growth and expansion into satellite TV coincided with a downturn in the global economy, which meant many of Murdoch’s American magazine interests were sold off to keep the TV networks going.


Sky was heavily subsidised in the early years by profits. Murdoch eventually signed a deal with a rival satellite operator, British Satellite Broadcasting, to merge in 1990.
 The fall off in growth during the early 90s ended quicker than expected and Murdoch managed to survive. He continued his original formula of profit followed acquisition.


In 1996, Murdoch decided to enter the cable news market with the Fox News Channel. 
Other TV operations have been launched around the world, particularly into Asia.
In 2007 he released an ambitious plan to ease global warming by making his global corporation, employing 47,000 employees, carbon neutral.

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