Rupert Murdoch
Check out some of the key events and acquisitions on Rupert Murdoch's path to becoming a global media mogul.
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Rupert Keith Murdoch is born in Melbourne, Australia. His father, Keith Murdoch, is an established newspaper man in the country.
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Murdoch inherits the Adelaide News, a mid-size Australian daily, and the Adelaide Sunday Mail.
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Murdoch acquires Cumberland Newspapers, and Mirror Newspapers, Ltd., publishers of Sydney's Daily and Sunday Mirror.
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Murdoch launches The Australian, Australia's first national newspaper.
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Murdoch takes over News of the World and launches the London Sun.
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Murdoch purchases the Sydney Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph.
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Murdoch purchases the San Antonio Express and News, his first U.S. newspaper. Some staff members react with dread, as the newspapers focus on the rise of the killer bees.
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Enters the supermarket tabloid business by launching The National Star.
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Murdoch buys the New York Post for $30 million from liberal socialite Dorothy Schiff, and turns it into what critics call a screaming tabloid that promotes his views. He continues his New York buying spree by purchasing New York magazine, Village Voice and New West from Clay Felker.
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Acquires Ansett Transport Industries, which owns Melbourne TV station Channel 10. Australia modifies media ownership laws to allow the deal. Critics call the move "The Murdoch Amendments."
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New Corporation is formed.
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News Corp. takes over the Times and Sunday Times in London.
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Buys the Boston Herald-American and changes the name to the Boston Herald. News Corp. also buys Australian book publisher Angus & Robertson.
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Launches Sky, the first satellite TV channel. News Corp. also buys the Chicago Sun Times for $90 million.
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Bid to take over Warner Brothers is thwarted.
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Murdoch becomes a U.S. citizen so he can purchase more American media outlets. News Corp. buys TCF Holdings Inc., parent company of Twentieth Century Fox Film. In a related deal, News Corp. purchases seven television stations from Metromedia for $1.55 billion (WNEW-TV, New York; KTTV-TV, Los Angeles; WFLD-TV, Chicago; WTTG-TV, Washington, DC; KNBN-TV, Dallas; KRIV-TV, Houston, WFXT-TV in Boston. These stations reach 22 percent of all television households in the U.S. The two deals help form backbone of a new broadcast television network.
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Fox Broadcasting Company is established. News Corp. moves its United Kingdom newspaper printing operations to a new plant in Wapping. A protracted labor strike ensues. Murdoch sells the Chicago Sun-Times.
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Takes control of the Melbourne Herald and Weekly Times, Australia's largest media group. News Corp. becomes world's largest newspaper publisher. News Corp. also purchases the South China Morning Post, British newspaper Today and U.S. book publisher Harper and Row. By doing so, Murdoch controls approximately 60 percent of Australian newspapers and thirty-five percent of U.K. newspapers.
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Purchases Triangle Publications (TV Guide) from Walter Annenberg for $3 billion. Sells off New York Post.
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Harper Collins is formed after newly acquired William Collins Publishing is merged with Harper and Row. The Simpsons becomes Fox Network's first hit program. Satellite television provider Sky TV is launched.
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BSkyB is formed after Sky merges with British Satellite Broadcasting, but the accumulation of large debts leads News Corp. toward bankruptcy. Citibank, the company's prime lender, takes an active role in saving News Corp.
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News Corp. undergoes a massive sell off to help lower corporate debt. The properties sold off include: New York, Seventeen, Soap Opera Digest, Soap Opera Weekly, Premiere, and Daily Racing Form.
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Buys broadcasting rights for the Premier League, an Australian rugby league, for $300 million.
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Gains controlling interest Star TV, an Asian satellite television service. Fox Network acquires the right to broadcast NFL games. The move shakes up American sports television as it leaves the NBC network without football coverage. Obtaining the NFL broadcasting rights costs over $1 billion but is seen as a necessary investment to help promote fledging Fox Network. News Corp. also reacquires the New York Post.
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HarperCollins sells its education unit to Pearson.
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Acquires the Los Angeles Dodgers and Dodger Stadium from the O'Malley family for $311 million.
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Acquires William Morrow and Avon Books in a deal with Hearst.
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Sells stake in Fox Family Network to Disney. Duopolies (ownership of two broadcast outlets in same market) are established in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Washington D.C., and Houston.
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Duopolies are established in Chicago and Orlando.
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Puts the Los Angeles Dodgers up for sale. Spends $6.6 billion for a stake in Hughes Electronic, the parent company of DirecTV.
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Los Angeles Dodgers sold to real estate developer Frank McCourt for $430 million. News Corp. moves corporate headquarters from Australia to U.S. John Malone's Liberty Media builds up 18 percent voting stake in News Corp. Murdoch, with a 29.5 percent family stake, introduces a "poison pill" to avoid a possible takeover.
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Increasing it's online presence, News Corp. pays $580 million for MySpace parent Intermix Media, $650 million for IGN Entertainment Inc. and $25.3 million for propertyfinder.com. BSkyB pays £211 million for UK broadband ISP Easynet.
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Murdoch agrees to sell his 34 percent stake in DirecTV to Liberty Media, buying back his News Corp. voting shares. Once the deal is completed in 2007, the Murdoch family stake in News Corp. rises to 40 percent of the voting shares.
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Acquires advertising technology company Strategic Data Corporation. Launches $5 billion unsolicited bid for Dow Jones & Co.
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Murdoch adds a crown jewel to his global media empire as the deal is sealed to buy Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co. for $5 billion, ending a century of family ownership by the Bancroft family, which was deeply divided over the sale. Murdoch thus gets one of the great trophies of U.S. journalism and a newspaper that is considered required reading among the business and power elite.
TimeLine: Wall Street Journal Timeline
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Credits:
CBS/AP/Columbia Journalism Review/Financial Times
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