Perhaps because of Murdoch's dominance over News Corp, the company tends to make long term, often risky, investments that many boards of directors might balk at. News Corp will use whatever means are necessary to force its way into a marketplace, and will run TV its companies at a loss for years in order to build up the all important market share and eventual profitability. News Corp has operated with the riskiest possible financing, narrowly avoiding collapse in 1990 and has continued to expand (mostly by acquisition). Its aggressive business tactics are legendary, and it shows no mercy to its rivals. Its financial structure has developed into a labyrinth of holding companies, many in offshore tax havens enabling it to pay astoundingly low taxes.

Market share and importance

News Corporation is one of the world's largest media companies with total assets, as of December 31, 2003 of approximately US$52bn and total annual revenues of approximately US$19bn.ⁱⁱ

According to its website:⁴

'News Corporation is the world's leading publisher of English-language newspapers, with operations in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the US. The Company publishes more than 175 different newspapers, employing approximately 15,000 people worldwide and printing more than 40 million papers a week'

In the television and film industries, News Corp owns both a large number of content providers (such as Fox Television in the US) and also extensive distribution networks (BskyB in Europe, and Star TV in Asia, Fox Cable in the US)

In total the group comprises around 800 companies around the world, with many holding companies based in offshore tax havens.⁵

History and strategy⁶

Murdoch obtained his first newspaper, 'The Adelaide News', by inheritance on the death of his father in 1952. He was then still an undergraduate at Worcester College, University of Oxford. In 1953 he returned to Australia and assumed control of the paper, rapidly improving its fortunes. By the end of the decade he had acquired a News South Wales-based newspaper chain, Cumberland Newspapers, the Sydney 'Daily Mirror' and Melbourne and Brisbane's 'Truth'. 1964 saw him buy a stake in Wellington Publishing, New Zealand's largest media company.

He arrived in the UK in the late '60s, beating arch-rival Robert Maxwell to the 'News of the World' (1968) and 'The Sun' (1969). Then in 1973 he entered the US market place, taking the 'San Antonio Express News', following up three years later with the 'New York Post', the 'Village Voice' and 'New York Magazine'. A string of further titles were acquired or bought during the 70s in the US and Australia and in 1980 he established News Corporation as a global holding company.

In 1981 News Corp bought 'The Times' and 'The Sunday Times' from the Thomson Group. A sympathetic Thatcher government allowed him to exploit a monopolies law loophole to buy the papers. The 1980s brought more landmarks: Murdoch taking Amercan citizenship, and acquiring 20^th Century Fox (1985); buying the 'South China Morning Post' and Harper & Row publishers (1987); the launch of Sky (1989).

By 1990 News Corp was in deep financial trouble with vast debts. Insolvency was narrowly avoided by a matter of hours, but still the media empire went on with its continual expansion buying: £300m broadcasting rights to the Premier League (1992); Asian satellite broadcaster, Star Television (1993); LA Dodgers baseball team (1997); 10 further US TV stations (2000). More recently News Corp has gained a foothold in mainland Europe: in settling the law suit filed against subsidiary NDS, News Corp bought a share in Italian network Telepiu (2002) which was then renamed Sky Italia (2003)

For a more detailed time line of News Corporation and Murdoch, see: www.ketupa.net/murdoch2.htm

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