Rupert Murdoch

Keith Rupert Murdoch (born on March 11, 1931), is an Australian-born American media proprietor who is the majority shareholder and managing director of News Corporation, one of the world's largest and most influential media corporations. He is one of the few chief executives of any multinational media corporation who (through his family company) has a controlling ownership share in the companies he runs. Beginning with newspapers, magazines and television stations in his native Australia, Murdoch expanded into British and American media, and in recent years has become a powerful force in satellite television, the film industry and other forms of media.

Moving into the United States

Murdoch made his first acquisition in the United States in 1973, when he purchased the San Antonio News. Soon afterwards he founded the National Star, a supermarket tabloid, and in 1976 he purchased the New York Post. On September 4, 1985, Murdoch became a naturalized citizen to satisfy the legal requirement that only United States citizens could own American television stations. In 1987 he bought The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd in Australia, the company that his father had once managed. By 1991, his Australian-based News Corp. had amassed huge debts, which forced Murdoch to sell many of the American magazine interests he had acquired in the mid-1980s. Much of this debt came from his British-based Sky Television satellite network, which incurred massive losses in its early years of operation, which (like many of his business interests) was heavily subsidized with profits from his other holdings until he was able to force rival satellite operator British Satellite Broadcasting to accept a merger on his terms in 1990. (The merged company, BSkyB has dominated the British pay-TV market since).

Related Topics:
United States - San Antonio News - National Star - Supermarket tabloid - 1976 - New York Post - September 4 - 1985 - Naturalized citizen - 1987 - 1991 - Sky Television - British Satellite Broadcasting - BSkyB

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In 1995, Murdoch's Fox Network became the object of scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) when it was alleged that News Ltd.'s Australian base made Murdoch's ownership of Fox illegal. The FCC, however, ruled in Murdoch's favor, stating that his ownership of Fox was in the public's best interests. In the same year Murdoch announced a deal with MCI Communications to develop a major news website as well as funding a right-wing magazine, The Weekly Standard. In the same year, News Corp. launched the Foxtel pay television network in Australia in a partnership with Telstra.

Related Topics:
1995 - Fox Network - Federal Communications Commission - MCI Communications - Website - Weekly Standard - Foxtel - Telstra

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In 1996, Fox established the Fox News Channel, a 24-hour cable news station. Since its launch it has consistently eroded CNN's market share, and it now bills itself as "the most-watched cable news channel." This is due in part to recent ratings studies, released in the fourth quarter of 2004, showing that the network had nine of the top ten programs in the "Cable News" category. However, FNC's cable-news dominance has in recent years been challenged by the growth of MSNBC.

Related Topics:
1996 - Fox News Channel - Cable news - CNN - MSNBC

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In 1999, Murdoch significantly expanded his music holdings in Australia by acquiring the controlling share in a leading Australian independent label, Michael Gudinski's Mushroom Records; he merged the two as Festival Mushroom Records (FMR). Both Festival and FMR were managed by Murdoch's son James Murdoch for several years.

Related Topics:
1999 - Michael Gudinski - Mushroom Records - Festival Mushroom Records - James Murdoch

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