????新聞集團之所以大舉借貸，是因為默多克拒絕稀釋他46%的股份。這筆股份價值3.4億美元，通過一家家庭信托進行管理。新聞集團的財務主管理查德?薩利森表示：“默多克的父親是澳大利亞著名的報紙主編，作為經理人，他在為別人創造財富。所以，他決定不再重蹈父親的覆轍。”

????魯伯特設定的緊縮的支出上限，清楚地證明了他作為一個所有者的控制欲。每次收購之后，他做的第一件事就是削減成本，裁減不必要的員工，并安裝可以減少運營成本的新設備。盡管新聞公司持有的資產相隔千里，但公司卻并沒有配備專機。在公司去年的收入中，日常開支僅為1，000萬美元。

????新聞集團旗下的少數資產貢獻的利潤在公司占到了驚人的比例。其中，貢獻較大的是小報。正如一則老笑話說的那樣，小報記者在報道之前便擬好了大標題。對公司利潤貢獻最大的是倫敦的《太陽報》，其430萬份發行量為默多克帶來約三分之一的英國早報讀者，這一比例的具體數字為28%。《太陽報》的成功令競爭對手的編輯瞠目結舌，他說：“從編輯的角度來看，《太陽報》非常差勁，但從商業上來說，它卻非常成功。倫敦新聞界都知道他們剽竊成性，慣于誘導采訪對象，而且侵犯其他人的隱私，他們對英國皇室的隱私侵犯更是無人能出其右。”

????去年，《太陽報》的收入達5，000萬美元，在新聞集團營業利潤中占驚人的41%。《太陽報》、美國周報《星報》和悉尼小報《每日電訊報》占公司去年營業收入的60%左右。

????默多克需要這些盈利大戶來支撐虧損的報紙。而且，確實存在虧損的報紙。由于默多克控制了公司的所有權，因此他擁有自由行動的權利，這使他可以等待數年，甚至幾十年，直到虧損的資產扭虧為盈。1964年，默多克開辦了澳大利亞的全國性報紙《澳大利亞人報》（Australian），但該報自創刊以來就一直處于虧損狀態。

????去年，默多克首次在美國實現盈利。他的美國資產總營業利潤為1，900萬美元，凈利潤為1，200萬美元。然而在默多克持有《紐約郵報》的七年間，該報紙卻從未實現收支平衡。去年，《紐約郵報》的虧損數額約為1，400萬美元，累計營業損失超過8，000萬美元。而1983財年，倫敦日報《泰晤士報》損失數額達1，000萬美元。

????除了周報《星報》和《圣安東尼奧新聞快報》（San Antonio News）之外，默多克卑劣的新聞報道伎倆在美國并沒有發揮神奇的效果。聳人聽聞的新聞報道、大量的體育新聞和價格昂貴的促銷手段才能贏得讀者：《紐約郵報》的發行量高達960，000份，比默多克接管報紙時的讀者人數增長了約一倍。默多克的“光環”（如他自己所說）使《波士頓先驅報》的發行量在一年內從247，000份增長到318，000，增長率高達28%。

????但是，對于那些以“無上裝酒吧驚現無頭尸”或“老兵醫院怪談”（這便是《紐約郵報》的兩則報道）等作為大標題的報紙，廣告商并不買賬。與《波士頓環球報》（Boston Globe）占85%的廣告收入相比，《波士頓先驅報》的廣告收入確實少的可憐。默多克承認：“我們還有很長的路要走。《波士頓環球報》是我們在美國最強大的競爭對手。他們不喜歡我，我看他們也不順眼。他們太高級了。”

????News Corp. borrows so heavily because Murdoch refuses to dilute his 46% stake -- worth $340 million –- which he controls through a family trust. Says Richard Sarazen, News Corp.'s finance director: "His father, a famous newspaper editor in Australia, was a manager who made a fortune for others. Rupert decided he'd never do it that way."

????A proprietor's grip is plainly evident in the drum-tight lid Murdoch keeps on expenses. The first change he makes after almost every acquisition is to slash costs, discharging whole regiments of nonessential employees and installing any new equipment that will reduce operating expenses. Though its holdings are thousands of miles apart, News Corp. does without a corporate jet. Corporate overhead ate up only $10 million of the company's revenues last year.

????A surprisingly large share of News Corp.'s profits flow from a handful of properties. The big contributors are the tabloids whose reporters, as the old joke goes at one of them, write the headline before they report the stories. Biggest of all is the Sun of London, whose circulation of nearly 4.3 million gives Murdoch 28% of the morning readers in Britain. Says the editor of a rival paper, goggle-eyed at the Sun's success: "It gets worse editorially and better commercially. Fleet Street knows they pinch stories and put words in people's mouths, and their intrusion into privacy, particularly of the Royal Family, is second to none."

????The $50 million the Sun contributed last year represented an astounding 41% of News Corp.'s operating profits. The Sun, the weekly Star in the U.S., and a Sydney tabloid, the Daily Telegraph, accounted for nearly 60% of the company's operating earnings last year.

????Murdoch needs those winners to carry the papers that lose money. And does he have losers. The freedom of action that controlling ownership brings allows Murdoch to wait years, even decades, for losing properties to turn around. The Australian, a national newspaper, has been consistently in the red ever since Murdoch started it in 1964.

????Last year was the first time Murdoch ever turned a profit in the U.S. His American properties had a combined operating profit of $19 million and a net profit of $12 million. In the seven years Murdoch has owned the New York Post it has never broken even. The Post lost an estimated $14 million last year, and its cumulative operating losses come to more than $80 million. The daily Times of London lost $10 million in fiscal 1983.

????Apart from the weekly Star and the San Antonio News, Murdoch's lowdown journalism isn't working its magic in the U.S. Sensational news coverage, more sports, and expensive promotion gimmicks have won readers: circulation at the Post is up to 960,000, nearly double the readership when Murdoch took over. Murdoch's brightening, as he calls it, has boosted the Boston Herald's circulation from 247,000 to 318,000 -- a 28% gain – in just one year.

????But advertisers haven't been eager to push their products in papers with headlines that scream HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR or GRISLY FIND IN VETERANS HOSPITAL (two classics from the Post). The Herald has made only a small dent in the Boston Globe's 85% share of advertising revenues. "We've got a long, long way to go," Murdoch admits. "The Globe is our most formidable competitor in any U.S. city. They don't like me and I don't get on with them. They're very high class."