Rupert Murdoch

Who is Rupert Murdoch?

Keith Rupert Murdoch, (born 11 March 1931) is an Australian American media mogul. Murdoch became managing director of Australia's News Limited, inherited from his father, in 1952. He is the founder, Chairman and CEO of global media holding company News Corporation, the world's second-largest media conglomerate.

In the 1950s and '60s, he acquired various newspapers in Australia and New Zealand, before expanding into the United Kingdom in 1969, taking over the News of the World followed closely by The Sun. He moved to New York in 1974 to expand into the US market, but retained interests in Australia and Britain. In 1981, he bought The Times, his first British broadsheet, and became a naturalized US citizen in 1985.

 In 1986, keen to adopt newer electronic publishing technologies, he consolidated his UK printing operations in Wapping, causing bitter industrial disputes. His News Corporation acquired Twentieth Century Fox (1985), HarperCollins (1989) and The Wall Street Journal (2007). He formed BSkyB in 1990 and during the 1990s expanded into Asian networks and South American television. By 2000 Murdoch's News Corporation owned over 800 companies in more than 50 countries with a net worth of over $5 billion.

In July 2011 Murdoch faced allegations that his companies, including the News of the World, owned by News Corporation, had been regularly hacking the phones of celebrities, royalty and public citizens. He faces police and government investigations into bribery and corruption by the British government and FBI investigations in the US. On 21 July 2012, Murdoch resigned as a director of News International.­­

What influence has he got in UK?

In the worlds of politics as well as media, Mr. Murdoch has been one of the most influential figures of our time, and nowhere more so than in Britain, where he made his mark in newspapers. When David Cameron became prime minister in May 2010, one of his first visitors at 10 Downing Street was Mr. Murdoch, who entered clandestinely through a back door.



Murdoch made his career—and billions—developing media properties into powerhouses. He's aiming to do it again with MySpace, the social network he bought in 2005 for a mere $580 million. Under the ownership of News Corp. (NWS), MySpace has morphed from a site where users post messages to friends and listen to unsigned bands into a full-fledged Web portal for entertainment content that pulls in an estimated $800 million per year in revenue. The site, which has more than 117 million users worldwide, has signed deals to distribute television shows and original programming and, this September, launched MySpace Music—a joint venture with the four major record labels and Indie players. Now Murdoch's challenge is to turn all the traffic and premium content into ad buys capable of competing with the likes of Yahoo.

Murdoch also controls the nation's largest broadcaster, nicknamed BSkyB, but actually owns only 39 percent of it.

Rupert Murdoch whose influence over Britain's relationship with Europe – the single most important relationship facing postwar Britain even today – remains baleful and lasting. If the Murdochs walked away from Britain today, their influence on the European question in British politics would remain for a generation.

"He has more power than any other private citizen in the United States," said media commentator Michael Wolff, founder of Newser.com and author of "The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch."

Forbes ranked the chairman and CEO of News Corporation as the 117th richest person in the world, with a net worth of $6.2 billion.

BusinessWeek ranked Murdoch as one of the 25 most influential people on the internet.

"There are two reasons for Rupert Murdoch's clout in the U.K. One has been a perception that his newspapers have influenced the outcomes of elections. That's doubtful. What Rupert Murdoch does is before elections: He backs winners or political parties he thinks are going to win," Labour MP Paul Farrelly says.

Some people called Murdoch's News of the World "News of the Screws." His Sunday tabloid has been known for its brutal, gossipy takedowns of out-of-favor politicians.

Having owned media institutions since the 1950s how is Mr Murdoch tapping in to a fragmented media audience?

He attempts by using his power and money he has gotten over the years. As mentioned above, he uses his newspapers, television stations that are well known, to influence the outcomes of elections. 

Also, He has used his influence to buy police officers as well.

Derived from London Evening Standard News: “A network of corrupt police officers and public officials regularly took cash bribes from Rupert Murdoch's News International, an inquiry heard today.Scotland Yard's chief investigator of phone hacking revealed that a ring of public servants received payments of up to £80,000 in return for information.

Journalists at The Sun allegedly handed out cash to police officers, prison officers and officials in health and government offices.Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers said that payments were not for an "odd drink or a meal" but were "regular, frequent and sometimes significant sums of money to small numbers of public officials by journalists".”