The Murdoch Mission: The Digital Transformation of a Media Empire [Hardcover]

Wendy Goldman Rohm (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471383600 | ISBN-13: 978-0471383604 | Publication Date: December 15, 2001

A dramatic narrative by a top journalist about the transformation of one of the world's greatest media empires.

The Murdoch Mission gets inside Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and documents the media mogul's strategic forays in digital media and broadcasting and new Internet-based businesses. Among other giant highlights is the creation of his new $40 billion company, the mammoth Sky Global Networks.

Wendy Rohm provides an up-close look at how Murdoch's youngest son, James Murdoch, is changing his father's fortune in the megamarket of China and other world markets. She shows the impact these forays will have on international trade and the media world at large. Based on her personal time with James in Hong Kong and Beijing, interviews with Rupert Murdoch himself as well as Murdoch's corporate officers, senior executives, colleagues, confidants, and competitors, Rohm provides a larger-than-life, colorful account of how one of the most powerful media lords on the planet leads his global corporation into the digital age. The Murdoch Mission delves into Murdoch's successes as well as his disasters while also providing a glimpse into the impact he and his company are having on the cultural and media landscape of the world.

Wendy Goldman Rohm (Chicago, IL) is the bestselling author of The Microsoft File, a Business Week, Barnes & Noble, and New York Times bestseller. A prolific writer, she has been a correspondent for many publications, including Wired magazine, Upside, the New York Times Syndicate International, Chicago Tribune, Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, and others.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a must read for Murdoch-watchers and television people." (Eurobusiness, April 2002)

From the Inside Flap

A true legend in his own time, media baron Rupert Murdoch is one of the world's most visible and controversial figures in business. Infamous for his high-risk ventures, Murdoch has proven skeptics wrong many times over as his investments and unlikely gambles more often than not have brought him both influence and fortune. And there's no indication Murdoch's going to slow down any time soon, as he continues to shape his News Corp.-- one of the most powerful media companies in the world-- for the global challenges of the new millennium.

The Murdoch Mission is an unprecedented inside account of Murdoch's headline-making efforts to transform his empire for the digital age-- assisted by his young sons Lachlan and James, who have been placed in leadership positions by their father. Award-winning journalist Wendy Goldman Rohm presents a dramatic narrative of the Murdoch family and News Corp.'s strategic forays into digital media and broadcasting, new Internet-based businesses, and the creation of the biggest enterprise of Murdoch's career: the multibillion mammoth Sky Global Networks.

Through interviews with Murdoch, his sons, corporate officers, senior executives, and business partners, Rohm documents how Murdoch changed the rules in the most difficult media markets-- and how he made enemies as his bold ventures sparked fear, jealousy, and even paranoia. Among the highlights, Rohm provides fly-on-the-wall accounts of:
* Murdoch's battles to wrest control of DirecTV, the U.S. satellite TV giant, from General Motors' Hughes Electronics
* The forging of News Corp.'s delicate relationship with Microsoft and a multibillion-dollar partnership between Rupert Murdoch and Bill Gates
* How Murdoch effects the equivalent of continental shifts--implementing technology throughout the world that pushes new media into new arenas
* News Corp.'s exploration of the next phase of the digital revolution, driven by Murdoch's intuitive talent at forging intimate, direct connections to consumers
* The real relationships between the Murdoch brothers and the rest of the Murdoch family--based on the author's direct observations and interviews versus rampant mythology about this fascinating clan
* James and Lachlan Murdoch's roles in some of their father's most critical business endeavors
* Murdoch's rationale and philosophy in scaling back overinflated Internet ventures while continuing to pump investments in new interactive platforms via the television set

Rohm also presents an insightful portrait of the man behind the maneuverings, dispelling the myths and unveiling the complexity, drive-- and an unusual form of ruthlessness mixed with joie de vivre-- that make up one of the most influential business leaders ever to step into a boardroom. She explores what lies in store for News Corp., providing an exclusive look into the expected turnover of the empire to the Murdoch heirs, with Murdoch keeping a careful eye on the legacy he will leave behind.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (December 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471383600
• ISBN-13: 978-0471383604
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,514,909 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Poorly edited puff piece, January 15, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Murdoch Mission: The Digital Transformation of a Media Empire (Hardcover)

Wow - a big-time publisher like John Wiley and they don't even hire a decent editor to cull through Wendy Goldman's galleys? Page after page of errors litter this book. One page, Rupert is walking into his third floor office - next page his office is on the fourth floor. Then back and forth. Goldman has people working at the wrong companies, James - Rupert's son - meeting his future wife at age six (not 26)... and on and on.

In addition, Goldman hardly has one bad word to say about anyone in News Corporation. Throughout his career, Rupert Murdoch has never tried to stifle criticism of him nor his actions. Never tried to block a particular book or article. But a book full of this sort of adoration and adulation isn't necessarily going to win Ms. Goldman any points with him.

What carries this book is not Goldman's writing, her insights nor the publisher's editing. What carries in the end is the fascinating scope of News Corporation's activities worldwide.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not enough criticism, March 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Murdoch Mission: The Digital Transformation of a Media Empire (Hardcover)

I bought this book in anticipation of a learning something new about Murdoch and I unfortunately did not. The books seems mainly to deal with the last two years of News Corporation and while it did provide some behind the scene information a large amount of the information could be gleamed out of reading the news articles that have come out about the Sky Global deal. The author never had anything to say bad about Murdoch or raise any new information but instead rehashed a large amount of news clippings.

Additionally, I agree with the reader that stated the author needed to check some facts because you will see mistakes such as when she comments one of his sons started working in 1977 at News but on the next page says that he was born in 1973. Even Murdoch's sons are allowed to have some childhood.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't Waste Your Money, October 28, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Murdoch Mission: The Digital Transformation of a Media Empire (Hardcover)

Do Not waste your money on this book, particularly if you are in the business and/ or have even a little working knowledge of News Corp. The book is contains no insight into the Murdoch way of doing business, is full of factual errors and was apparently not edited at all. It is full of mistakes, omits context and timing and ignores many of the key executives who actually make and made things happen at News Corp.
How does stuff like this get published?