澳洲“葛朗臺”——魯伯特?默多克

????作為當代最具爭議的出版商之一，他能夠做到嗎？答案取決于他外表掩飾下的內心想法，取決于他是否有足夠大的金融神通和足夠強的意志力。默多克已經控制了大部分澳洲媒體，因此，大宗收購的機會已經所剩無幾。英國是其主要的盈利來源，但是受制于反壟斷法規，他也無法繼續在英國收購更多的報紙?，F在，美國是唯一符合默多克胃口的英語市場。

????默多克的巨大胃口不但讓他成為競爭對手的眼中釘，也讓他成了對手新聞專欄中的?？停罱穷l頻亮相。近期，他收購了華納傳播公司（Warner Communications）6.7%的股份，這讓華納董事會主席史蒂夫?羅斯大為光火，為了挫敗默多克接管公司的企圖，他立馬出售了公司更大比例的份額。上個月，他對美國第九大日報《芝加哥太陽報》（Chicago Sun-Times）的收購也引發了同樣激烈的風暴。報紙的編輯、出版商、總經理、銷售總監和主要專欄作家集體提出了辭職。

????新聞集團已經是英語國家最大的出版公司之一。其大部分增長主要是在過去七年中通過收購來實現的。默多克的行為是典型的“沖動性收購”，因為他往往只憑借自己的主觀判斷和承擔風險的勇氣就做出收購決定。他的一位業務合作伙伴表示：“我想，他每天都會有五分鐘是在偷著樂吧，因為人們一直搞不清楚他到底在做什么。”默多克的賭博行為帶來的成果是喜憂參半的。盡管他本人一直處在媒體的聚光燈下，但鮮有人會注意其收購行為的一些細節。他的部分報紙具有極高的盈利能力，但其他報紙卻常年虧損?？傮w來說，在低級別的同行中，新聞集團的盈利能力并不出眾。

????默多克在規模、影響和權力方面取得了巨大的成功，他的合作伙伴認為，這些對于他來說非常重要。他經常利用自己的報紙推動自己的政治事業。他旗下的報紙一直是美國前總統里根和前紐約市市長郭德華的堅定支持者，而對于那些冒犯他的政客，他的報紙則成為最冷酷的攻擊武器，包括美國參議員愛德華?M?肯尼迪和紐約市布魯克林區地方檢察官伊利莎白?霍爾茲曼在內的人無一幸免。

????新聞集團在英國、澳大利亞和美國擁有80多份報紙和雜志。集團旗下的報紙包括發行時間最長、最富盛名的英文日報——倫敦《泰晤士報》（Times），發行量最大，也是倫敦東區聲望最高的英文報紙——倫敦《太陽報》（Sun），以及澳大利亞發行量最大的午后報紙《每日鏡報》（Daily Mirror）。此外，公司持有的資產還包括兩家澳大利亞電視臺、四家圖書出版社，在澳大利亞最大的私營航線占有一半的股份，并在兩家石油與天然氣勘探財團中占有股份。

????默多克希望，新聞集團未來的通信增長之路能夠跳出出版業。正如他近期接受《財富》雜志采訪時所說：“我對電子時代的了解并不比其他人更透徹，它將把人類帶去何方？它將對大型報業公司造成什么影響？對此，我也知之有限。但有一點我很確定，它的影響是確定無疑的。為了做好準備，也為了能在新行業中占據一席之地，我們當然希望能成為娛樂節目制作領域擁的巨頭?！?/p>

????而華納公司恰好符合默多克追逐的目標。華納公司擁有好萊塢最賺錢的電影與電視攝影棚，并擁有一家價值5億美元的大型電影資料館，同時旗下還有美國最大的唱片公司。爭奪華納的戰爭充分展示了默多克無畏和好斗的個性。他為人冷酷無情，并且從不會臨陣脫逃。比如在一月底，他曾經要求《紐約郵報》（New York Post）的記者調查華納公司史蒂夫?羅斯的糗事。

????然而現在，默多克卻陷入了兩難境地。羅斯將公司19%的利益出讓給克里斯?克拉夫特產業公司（Chris-Craft Industries），以交換克里斯?克拉夫特的廣播業子公司。此外，克里斯?克拉夫特還額外買進了華納公司的股票，使其總持股比例超過21%。默多克也增加了持股；到一月底，他持有的華納股份為7.1%。但除非他能夠說服法院撤銷克里斯 – 克拉夫特的交易，否則他只能承認失敗。因為按照華納公司章程的規定，未經克里斯 – 克拉夫特的許可，默多克將無法進行強制并購或資產分拆。這是他連續第二次慘遭失敗。在去年對一家衛星廣播公司的收購中，他也未能獲得成功，只是那次收購鮮為人知而已。

????未來，按照默多克的預想，娛樂與新聞之間的界限將日漸模糊。而他的批評者則認為他從來都不明白兩者之間的區別?，F年52歲的默多克于1955年在澳洲阿德萊德市繼承了父親的小報，從此開始闖蕩報業界。他在之后收購的大部分報紙中都采用了一種死板的分類準則：丑聞、體育、消費和犯罪。默多克的小報大肆渲染一個駭人聽聞的世界——殘忍的罪犯殘害婦女和兒童、邪惡的移民威嚇土著人，而大部分政府事務報道則過于沉悶乏味。1969年，他移民到英國，收購了星期日周報《世界新聞報》（News of the World），至此，默多克的澳大利亞公司已經擁有約十二份報紙。大部分都是通過借貸，以低廉的價格購入，而后通過狄更斯式的成本控制、鋪天蓋地的宣傳、博彩式的有獎競猜和小報式的風格，最終都扭虧為盈。

????年輕（當時只有38歲）和默默無聞成為默多克最初的資本，憑借這些資本，他成功地以最劃算的價格完成了一生中最重要的一次收購，而此次收購為未來的默多克帝國奠定了基礎。他用100萬美元，輕取《太陽報》。當時，《太陽報》只是國際出版公司旗下一份垂死掙扎的社會主義日報。默多克在《太陽報》中實施了他的準則，每天在“第三版”中刊登赤裸上身的女郎，重新定義了三版在新聞界的定義，并將社論移到了右側?！短枅蟆烦蔀槟嗫说蹏凶钯嶅X的報紙，去年的收入預計達到5，000萬美元。

Tight-fisted Aussie, Rupert Murdoch

????Can he make it? The answer will rest on what lies behind the facade of one of the era's most controversial publishers -- on the might of his financial muscle and on the strength of his imposing will. Murdoch already controls so much of the Australian press that few significant acquisition opportunities are left there. Nor could he buy more newspapers in Britain, where he earns most of his profits, without bumping up against monopoly restrictions. That leaves the U.S. as the only English-speaking market equal to Murdoch's appetite.

????Murdoch's appetite has put him on competitors' minds -- and in their news columns -- a lot lately. His recent purchase of 6.7% of Warner Communications so rattled Warner Chairman Steven Ross that he rushed to sell off a much bigger piece of the company to thwart a Murdoch takeover. The Aussie's purchase last month of the Chicago Sun-Times, the ninth-largest daily in the U.S., summoned up a similar storm. The paper's editor, publisher, general manager, sales director, and leading columnist all resigned.

????News Corp. already is one of the largest publishing companies in the English-speaking world. Most of its growth came in the last seven years, largely through acquisitions. Murdoch bought impulsively, guided by little more than an eye for a bargain and a willingness to take risks. Says a business associate: "I think he spends five minutes a day giggling at the fact that everyone is trying to figure out what he's doing." Murdoch's impulsive gambling has produced widely mixed results, which despite all the attention he gets are not often examined in detail. Some of his newspapers are fabulously profitable while others are perennial losers. Overall, News Corp.'s profitability is unspectacular, in the lower tier of his publishing peers.

????Murdoch had greater success achieving size, reach, and power -- things that associates say matter a lot to him. He routinely uses his newspapers to promote his political causes. His papers have been strident supporters of President Reagan and New York Mayor Edward Koch, and relentless attackers of politicians who offend his sensibilities, including Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Brooklyn District Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman.

????News Corp. publishes more than 80 newspapers and magazines in Britain, Australia, and the U.S. The newspapers include the Times of London, the oldest and one of the most prestigious English-language dailies, the Sun of London, the largest and one of the east prestigious English-language dailies, and the Daily Mirror, the largest afternoon paper in Australia. The company's other holdings include two Australian TV stations, four book publishers, a half interest in Australia's largest private airline, and parts in two oil and gas exploration consortiums.

????Murdoch expects much of News Corp.'s future communications growth to come outside publishing. As he told FORTUNE recently: "I don't know any better than anyone else where the electronic age is taking us, or how it will affect a large newspaper company. But I do know it's going to have an impact. To prepare for that, and to have a position in that new industry, you want to be a major player in the production of entertainment programming."

????Warner would fit the scope of Murdoch's ambition. It operates one of the most consistently profitable movie and TV studios in Hollywood, owns a vast film library worth more than $500 million, and has one of the largest record companies in the U.S. A battle for Warner would show off Murdoch's defiantly competitive ways. His instincts are brute and he hardly ever bolts from a row. In late January, for instance, he had reporters at the New York Post searching for dirt about Steve Ross of Warner.

????For now, though, Murdoch is stymied. Ross handed a 19% interest in the company to Chris-Craft Industries in exchange for an interest in a ChrisCraft broadcasting subsidiary. ChrisCraft has bought additional shares, raising its total to more than 21% of Warner. So has Murdoch; by late January he held 7.1%. But unless he can persuade the courts to undo the ChrisCraft deal, Murdoch looks like a loser. Warner's bylaws make it impossible for him to force a merger or a spinoff of assets without Chris-Craft's assent. That would make two defeats in a row. He was notably unsuccessful in another, less publicized foray into satellite broadcasting last year.

????In the future envisioned by Murdoch, the line between entertainment and news will increasingly blur. His critics claim he's never known the difference anyway. Murdoch, 52, started in 1955 with a tired daily inherited from his father in the Australian city of Adelaide. He has applied a rigid formula of scandal, sports, cheesecake, and crime to most of the papers acquired since. Murdoch's tabloids luridly depict a world in which fiendish criminals prey on women and children, evil immigrants menace the natives, and most government affairs are too tedious to note. By the time he moved into England in 1969 to buy the Sunday News of the World, Murdoch's Australian company owned nearly a dozen papers. Most had been bought on the cheap with borrowed money and turned around with Dickensian cost controls, strident promotion, bingolike contests, and the tabloid formula.

????Being young (38 at the time) and comparatively unknown helped Murdoch get the biggest bargain of his life and the one on which today's empire rests. For $1 million, he bought the Sun, then a moribund socialist daily, from International Publications Corp. Murdoch applied his formula to the Sun, gave "page 3" a new meaning among journalists by publishing pictures of bare-breasted women there every day, and swung its editorials to the right. The Sun has become the most profitable piece of the empire, earning an estimated $50 million last year.