Murdoch
by By Shawcross, William
Category: Business & Economics , General

Admire or fear him, you can't ignore Rupert Murdoch. Chances are, no matter where you are, he influences your life through his newspapers, magazines or TV network. He is perhaps the world's most successful businessman, a baron of the global village - and his power is growing every day. The story of his success, as told by William Shawcross in this already controversial biography, is the business story of the decade.In a brief time, Murdoch has transformed himself from the owner of a single newspaper in an Australian backwater to the titan of News, one of the world's largest, most sophisticated communications empires. Of the six international media giants (Time Warner, Sony, Bertelsmann, Berlusconi, Disney and News), only News is owned and controlled by one man. Only News stretches completely around the earth. And only News has Murdoch, the tycoon whose life has been, in the words of Shawcross, "an unending assault upon the world...a series of interlocking wars."Shawcross shows how Murdoch, perhaps more than any of the other media czars, recognized the enormous possibilities of the new age of communications and put the vision into bold action. For the first time, it is clear how Murdoch advanced up the ladder of influence, acquiring newspapers (including the Times of London, the New York Post and the Chicago Sun-Times), always buying and trading for more power.We follow Murdoch from his beginnings in print journalism to space (as he moves to surpass Ted Turner's position in satellite news) and back down to earth, where he has consolidated his reputation for toughness by playing hardball with the London unions and beating Manhattan's magazine magnates at their own game of buy and sell. Shawcross shows how Murdoch - pragmatic and merciless, though perhaps no more so than his adversaries - managed without fail to extend his reach, finally landing in Hollywood, capital of world entertainment. There, despite the predictions of skeptics and experts, he presided over the creation of a fourth successful TV network and then parted ways with the man who actually created it, Barry Diller.Shawcross describes Murdoch's incredible dash across the globe and tells us the stories behind the deals. We see his relentless ambition and his irresistible charm, his ruthless acquisitions and his biggest gambles. We see how his power evolved and how he intends to enlarge it more, exploiting the information revolution, the wave of high-tech innovation that has helped make information the most vital global commodity since oil. Shawcross lets us understand for the first time just how much power and influence Murdoch really has - and how he could use it in the future.Moving from Fleet Street newsrooms to Park Avenue boardrooms, from Murdoch's big wins to the night he almost lost everything, Shawcross provides the first truly objective picture of Murdoch. We see the "King of Tabloids" who pushed yellow journalism to new shades while championing the values of allies such as Reagan and Thatcher. We see the compromises, the broken promises, the betrayals, but we also see the brilliance the savvy, the unfailing popular touch, and the spark of a man whose high-wire swing around the earth must be understood by anyone who hopes to understand the world of business today - or tomorrow. Scrupulously reported, Murdoch - like its subject - is big news.