Share this
Mister Wong
Digg
Del.icio.us
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Googlize this
Blinklist
Facebook
Wikio
Hear this text
Print
E-mail
The bucks start here
I come not to bury Rupert Murdoch, but to praise him.
When those in power direct their authority down the line, the ultimate result is credited back to the one on top. So, when something goes wrong, the scramble to shift the blame has reverberations known as ‘passing the buck’!
Former United States president Ronald Reagan, in a solid reference to responsibility in leadership, had a plaque on his desk that read: “The Buck Stops Here”.
The story of Murdoch is one of astute vision, leadership and a media empire built from humble origins in South Australia, to an awesome global network. It is a story of breathtaking innovation, bold thinking, focus and execution that has left competitors gasping, trade unions irate and investors enraptured.
In Paris today, Le Monde suffers from a strike-threatening union that could bankrupt the paper. (When managers went electronic, the union demanded two jobs for each new computer – one to type on the keyboard and one to look at the screen.)
In Britain, Murdoch famously closed his entire Fleet Street operations and moved to state-of-the-art, union-free Wapping, London where efficiency, speed and profits soared.
In Adelaide, he first initiated his front-page stories of scandal, writing the bold three-to-five-word poster headlines himself. Circulation soared.
Across Australia, then Britain, Murdoch acquired more newspapers, then entered America with galloping success. He reached into television, services, books and film, recognising that: “The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow.”
To shareholders, he is manna from heaven. News Corporation outstrips nearly all the heavyweight investment companies, even the 32% yields of Exxon.
Services bring in R9 billion; book publishing R9.2bn; satellite TV R26.6bn; network TV R29.5bn; newspapers (The Times, The New York Times, Sun, The Australian, The Wall Street Journal and many more) R42.7bn; cable TV (Fox News, National Geographic) R49bn; film (20th Century Fox) R53.2bn.
At 80 years of age, Murdoch continues to add value to brands, give high-level employment to thousands, and create wealth from nothing.
He could justifiably put a plaque on his desk that reads: “The Bucks Start Here”.
