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| James Murdoch has stepped down as executive chairman of News International. (photo: David Moir/Reuters) |
08 April 12
As a story, it has everything: dynastic succession, Oedipal conflict, vaulting ambition, hubris, crisis, catastrophe … read on.
n Tuesday, James Murdoch gave up his last claim to BSkyB, the company that most defined him.
He had not wanted to leave his job as CEO of the company in 2008, when
his father first got the idea that James should instead run the Asian
and European operations of News Corp. At BSkyB, only 39% owned by News
Corp, James was at a distance from News Corp politics, and, more
importantly, from his father's incessant interference.
What's more, BSkyB had made James. At 36, he was
running a vast, successful, and rapidly growing media company. The
business world had noticed.
But his father had just bought the Wall Street Journal
and was moving the long-time head of the company's British subsidiary,
News International, and family retainer, Les Hinton, to New York to run
it. Rebekah Brooks, the editor of the Sun and herself a family favorite,
was scheduled to take over Hinton's job, but Murdoch was not sure she
was seasoned enough. He need someone he could trust - not least of all
because, at 78, he wanted to travel a lot less and concentrate his
attention on his pride and joy, the WSJ.
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