Step one, inherit.
Keith Rupert Murdoch, second of four children, was born in Melbourne, Australia on March 11, 1931. In 1953, six months after graduating from Worcester college, Oxford, he assumed control of News Ltd — left to him by his father. Its main asset was the Adelaide News. He took control of the Sunday Times in Perth, and its sensationalist style was later adopted by many Murdoch papers.
Step two, start hunting with ruthless and patience persistence. The following is an updated version of a timeline the FT published back in 2007, and we’ll also put a helpful list of News Corp’s biggest deals at the bottom.
1958: Murdoch gets one of the first two broadcast licences in Adelaide, and goes on the hunt for content for his Southern Television Corp in New York and Los Angeles
1960: He moves to the national stage in Australia, buying Sydney’s Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror
1964: News Ltd launches the first newspaper created by Murdoch, the Australian, the country’s first national daily
1967: Marries Anna Tory, after divorce from first wife Patricia
1969: Murdoch wins a bidding war against Robert Maxwell for the News of the World in the UK. Buys the Sun and relaunches it as a tabloid.
1973: Enters US, purchasing the San Antonio Express and the San Antonio News
1976: Buys New York Post from Dorothy Schiff for $30m
1979: News Corp is reorganised as a holding company with Australian, British and US arms
1981: Purchases the UK Times and Sunday Times
1983: A big year. He acquires Chicago Sun-Times and enters the satellite television market. An ambitious venture called Skyband is later ditched with a $20m loss. Buys the UK’s Satellite Television, renaming it Sky. Takes a 6.7 per cent stake in Warner Communications
1985: Buys 50 per cent of 20th Century Fox Film Corp. Sworn in as a US citizen, a necessary encumbrance to buy US television assets
1986: Sells the Chicago Sun-Times. Buys Metromedia for $1.9bn, which includes six television stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Washington. These stations form the backbone for the Fox Television network. Murdoch also takes on British print unions, moving newspaper operations to Wapping after a violent battle, transforming British newspaper industry
1988: The New York Post is sold
1989: Sky Television launched in the UK, and HarperCollins is formed by a merger of book publishers.
1990: A close shave as bankruptcy concerns arise when debts reach $7bn, threatening Murdoch’s control of News Corp
1993: Buys back the beloved New York Post. Begins Asian investments, buying 64 per cent of Star TV for $525m. Star TV acquires 49.9 per cent stake in Zee TV, India’s Hindi channel
1994: Fox Television expanded after New World’s 12 major market stations switch affliliations to Fox after Murdoch buys a 20 per cent stake. The initial public offering of BskyB in the UK nets News Corp $1.3bn
1995: Numerous deals to develop sports and children’s programming, including with John Malone’s Liberty Media and Saban Entertainment
1996: The fair and balanced Fox News is launched
1997: News Corp and Fox acquire the remaining 80 per cent of New World
1998: Initial public offering of Fox Entertainment Group raises $2.8bn
1999: Marries third wife Wendi Deng
2000: Sky Global Networks is formed to create global satellite network including in UK and Latin America. Fox Television Stations acquires 10 stations for $5.35bn, giving Fox unmatched presence in largest US television markets
2003: Acquisition of 34 per cent of Hughes Electronics, owner of US satellite broadcaster DirecTV, for $6.6bn in cash and stock following a decade-long battle to gain a presence in US satellite
2004: News Corp incorporation moved to US from Australia. John Malone’s Liberty Media builds up 18 per cent voting stake in News Corp. Murdoch, with a 29.5 per cent family stake, introduces a “poison pill” to avoid a possible takeover
2005: Murdoch buys MySpace for $580m, Scout Media for $60m and IGN Entertainment for $650m
2006: Murdoch agrees to sell his 34 per cent DirecTV stake to Malone, buying back his News Corp voting shares. Once this is completed in 2007, the Murdoch family stake in News Corp rises to 40 per cent of the voting shares
2007: Buys Wall Street Journal’s parent, Dow Jones, for $5bn. The Fox Business news channel is launched
2009: News Corp buys Floorgraphics for an undisclosed price after settling a civil suit with the company over hacking allegations.
2010: Academic expansion, with purchase of Wireless Generation for $360m. A 90 per cent stake in Dow Jones indexes is sold to CME for $600m.
2011: Daughter Elizabeth sells her production company Shine to dad for £415m, including debt. He also tries to buy the 61 per cent of BSkyB Newscorp does not already own, but withdraws the bid following the escalating UK hacking scandal which also sees the News of the World closed. MySpace is sold to Specific Media for $35m.
2012: Buys Australian Consolidated Media Holdings for A$1.9bn. Takes a 49 per cent stake in the Yes network, a cable channel carrying baseball games played by the New York Yankees, at a valuation of $3bn. News Corp launches $10bn share buyback.
2013: Wins control of Sky Deutschland, buying a further 9 per cent for $1.2bn. The empire then splits in two, with the more profitable entertainment arm spun off as 21st Century Fox. Murdoch also splits from wife Deng, in a divorce.
2014: News Corp buys Harlequin, publisher of “bodice rippers”, for $415m. Talks begin to sell Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland from Fox to BSkyB. Fox confirms that it has approached Time Warner. One final giant deal looms?
We also promised the biggest deals ranked by size. Nothing comes close to $80, but here are the 15 $1bn plus deals as collated by Dealogic (click to enlarge).
Keith Rupert Murdoch, second of four children, was born in Melbourne, Australia on March 11, 1931. In 1953, six months after graduating from Worcester college, Oxford, he assumed control of News Ltd — left to him by his father. Its main asset was the Adelaide News. He took control of the Sunday Times in Perth, and its sensationalist style was later adopted by many Murdoch papers.
Step two, start hunting with ruthless and patience persistence. The following is an updated version of a timeline the FT published back in 2007, and we’ll also put a helpful list of News Corp’s biggest deals at the bottom.
1958: Murdoch gets one of the first two broadcast licences in Adelaide, and goes on the hunt for content for his Southern Television Corp in New York and Los Angeles
1960: He moves to the national stage in Australia, buying Sydney’s Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror
1964: News Ltd launches the first newspaper created by Murdoch, the Australian, the country’s first national daily
1967: Marries Anna Tory, after divorce from first wife Patricia
1969: Murdoch wins a bidding war against Robert Maxwell for the News of the World in the UK. Buys the Sun and relaunches it as a tabloid.
1973: Enters US, purchasing the San Antonio Express and the San Antonio News
1976: Buys New York Post from Dorothy Schiff for $30m
1979: News Corp is reorganised as a holding company with Australian, British and US arms
1981: Purchases the UK Times and Sunday Times
1983: A big year. He acquires Chicago Sun-Times and enters the satellite television market. An ambitious venture called Skyband is later ditched with a $20m loss. Buys the UK’s Satellite Television, renaming it Sky. Takes a 6.7 per cent stake in Warner Communications
1985: Buys 50 per cent of 20th Century Fox Film Corp. Sworn in as a US citizen, a necessary encumbrance to buy US television assets
1986: Sells the Chicago Sun-Times. Buys Metromedia for $1.9bn, which includes six television stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Washington. These stations form the backbone for the Fox Television network. Murdoch also takes on British print unions, moving newspaper operations to Wapping after a violent battle, transforming British newspaper industry
1988: The New York Post is sold
1989: Sky Television launched in the UK, and HarperCollins is formed by a merger of book publishers.
1990: A close shave as bankruptcy concerns arise when debts reach $7bn, threatening Murdoch’s control of News Corp
1993: Buys back the beloved New York Post. Begins Asian investments, buying 64 per cent of Star TV for $525m. Star TV acquires 49.9 per cent stake in Zee TV, India’s Hindi channel
1994: Fox Television expanded after New World’s 12 major market stations switch affliliations to Fox after Murdoch buys a 20 per cent stake. The initial public offering of BskyB in the UK nets News Corp $1.3bn
1995: Numerous deals to develop sports and children’s programming, including with John Malone’s Liberty Media and Saban Entertainment
1996: The fair and balanced Fox News is launched
1997: News Corp and Fox acquire the remaining 80 per cent of New World
1998: Initial public offering of Fox Entertainment Group raises $2.8bn
1999: Marries third wife Wendi Deng
2000: Sky Global Networks is formed to create global satellite network including in UK and Latin America. Fox Television Stations acquires 10 stations for $5.35bn, giving Fox unmatched presence in largest US television markets
2003: Acquisition of 34 per cent of Hughes Electronics, owner of US satellite broadcaster DirecTV, for $6.6bn in cash and stock following a decade-long battle to gain a presence in US satellite
2004: News Corp incorporation moved to US from Australia. John Malone’s Liberty Media builds up 18 per cent voting stake in News Corp. Murdoch, with a 29.5 per cent family stake, introduces a “poison pill” to avoid a possible takeover
2005: Murdoch buys MySpace for $580m, Scout Media for $60m and IGN Entertainment for $650m
2006: Murdoch agrees to sell his 34 per cent DirecTV stake to Malone, buying back his News Corp voting shares. Once this is completed in 2007, the Murdoch family stake in News Corp rises to 40 per cent of the voting shares
2007: Buys Wall Street Journal’s parent, Dow Jones, for $5bn. The Fox Business news channel is launched
2009: News Corp buys Floorgraphics for an undisclosed price after settling a civil suit with the company over hacking allegations.
2010: Academic expansion, with purchase of Wireless Generation for $360m. A 90 per cent stake in Dow Jones indexes is sold to CME for $600m.
2011: Daughter Elizabeth sells her production company Shine to dad for £415m, including debt. He also tries to buy the 61 per cent of BSkyB Newscorp does not already own, but withdraws the bid following the escalating UK hacking scandal which also sees the News of the World closed. MySpace is sold to Specific Media for $35m.
2012: Buys Australian Consolidated Media Holdings for A$1.9bn. Takes a 49 per cent stake in the Yes network, a cable channel carrying baseball games played by the New York Yankees, at a valuation of $3bn. News Corp launches $10bn share buyback.
2013: Wins control of Sky Deutschland, buying a further 9 per cent for $1.2bn. The empire then splits in two, with the more profitable entertainment arm spun off as 21st Century Fox. Murdoch also splits from wife Deng, in a divorce.
2014: News Corp buys Harlequin, publisher of “bodice rippers”, for $415m. Talks begin to sell Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland from Fox to BSkyB. Fox confirms that it has approached Time Warner. One final giant deal looms?
We also promised the biggest deals ranked by size. Nothing comes close to $80, but here are the 15 $1bn plus deals as collated by Dealogic (click to enlarge).
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