King Murdoch II

Now, I don't want to sound obsessed or beat a dead horse of a topic, but the Murdoch dynasty just makes me nervous.

The family again came to my attention thanks to an article in the Boston Globe about Rupert Murdoch's son, Lachlan. Lachlan Murdoch is the founder and owner of Illyria Pty. Ltd. (for which I cannot seem to find a website), a private investment company. Apparently through this business, Lachlan Murdoch is making a bid for ownership of Australia-based Consolidated Media Holdings Ltd. as a 50/50 venture with Consolidated Press Holdings Ltd., a major shareholder of Consolidated Media. (Personally, I'm a bit confused by the similarity.)

According to the Globe article, if the sale goes through, it would merge Australia's two most powerful media corporations. So it looks as though Lachlan Murdoch is following in his father's footsteps.

As an aside, I find the situation a bit confusing. Illyria is supposed to be independent of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.; however, Consolidated Media owns the Premier Media Group, which in turn owns FOX SPORTS 1/2/3, FOX SPORTS NEWS and FOX SPORTS STATS. So perhaps this venture is not as independent of daddy as some might like us to think.

Independent or not, Lachlan Murdoch's private venture is due to the fact that he left his job at News Corp. in 2005 (though he remains a director). The split between father and son is detailed in a (very) long narrative article in New York magazine. If you can manage to make it through the entire article, it provides an interesting look at the Murdoch dynamic.

While I was looking for some more information about father and son, I stumbled across another article in New York, this one about the "Murdoch-ization" of America. The indicative opening paragraph of the article:

The Murdoch-ization of America has never felt so irreversible. At any given moment, according to Business Week, one in every five households is tuned into a show produced or delivered by News Corp.; meanwhile, Fox News is crushing CNN, the Weekly Standard is running the Bush administration, and three of the top six books now on the New York Times’ best-seller list were published by Regan Books. And in perhaps the most unmistakable sign yet that New York’s preeminent right-wing robber baron has become an entrenched member of the city’s Establishment, Rupert Murdoch recently purchased the late Laurance Rockefeller’s Fifth Avenue triplex for $44 million. In cash.

This just reaffirms my fear of and fascination with the Murdoch empire. America was the first to be Murdoch-ized. With the next generation, it looks as though Australia could be next.