THE MURDOCH METHOD Irwin Stelzer is a consultant on market strategy for US and UK industries. He worked closely with Rupert Murdoch for thirty-five years. He has a regular column in the Sunday Times and is an occasional contributor to The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and the New Statesman. He has received the ICAP Comment Award for Economics Commentator of the Year and has a doctorate in Economics from Cornell University. He has held positions at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Cornell University and New York University, and been a visiting fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford University. Published in hardback and trade paperback in Great Britain in 2018 by Atlantic Books, an imprint of Atlantic Books Ltd. Copyright © Irwin Stelzer, 2018 The moral right of Irwin Stelzer to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Hardback ISBN: 978 1 78649 575 4 Trade paperback ISBN: 978 1 78649 400 9 E-book ISBN: 978 1 78649 402 3 Printed in Great Britain. Credits for photo insert: plates 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 11, 14 © Getty Images; plates 4, 7 © PA Images; plate 9 © Reuters; plates 2, 5, 12, 13 © Rex Shutterstock/AP; plate 15 © EPA/EFE The Walt Disney Company. Atlantic Books An imprint of Atlantic Books Ltd Ormond House 26–27 Boswell Street London WC1N 3JZ www.atlantic-books.co.uk For Cita Who has made this book and much else possible ‘I’m a strange mixture of my mother’s curiosity; my father, who grew up the son of the manse in a Presbyterian family, who had a tremendous sense of duty and responsibility; and my mother’s father, who was always in trouble with gambling debts’ Rupert Murdoch, 20081 ‘I would hope they [my children] would lead useful, happy and concerned lives with a very responsible view of what they should and are able to do according to their circumstances’ Elisabeth Murdoch, circa 19892 ‘I am a curious person who is interested in the great issues of the day and I am not good at holding my tongue’ Rupert Murdoch, 20123 CONTENTS Timeline Introduction: Rupert Murdoch: The Man, His Method and Me 1 The Corporate Culture 2 Power, Politics and the Murdoch Method 3 Deals 4 Economic Regulation 5 Crisis Management 6 Responsibility 7 Protecting His Assets 8 The Succession and the Pivot Epilogue Acknowledgements Select Bibliography Notes Index KEITH RUPERT MURDOCH TIMELINE 1931 March Keith Rupert Murdoch born 1950 October Goes up to Worcester College, Oxford 1952 October Father, Keith Arthur Murdoch, passes away. Rupert inherits father’s stake. The will is complicated, so the precise date of possession is difficult to pinpoint 1953 Family approves of Rupert becoming managing director of Adelaide papers, News and Sunday Mail 1956 Marries Patricia Booker 1958 Daughter Prudence (now Prudence MacLeod) born 1964 July Launches The Australian, a serious, nation-wide broadsheet in Australia, and his first new title 1967 Divorces Patricia Booker