MediaFile

Keep an eye on: Murdoch (again)

By Kenneth Li
August 24, 2007

Here’s one story the Wall Street Journal didn’t break on Friday. Vacationing in the Mediterranean aboard his yacht – the Rosehearty – didn’t stop Rupert Murdoch from picking up the phone to persuade three WSJ reporters from defecting, the LA Times reports, citing unnamed sources.

As you may recall, the first major sticking point in News Corp’s $5.6 billion deal for Dow Jones involved protecting its editorial integrity from meddling hands, including those of the lifelong newspaperman Murdoch.

One reporter is leaving for the New York Times, another is staying and the third is undecided.

It’s not immediately clear if Murdoch’s actions are signs of things to come, his attempt at maintaining high qualities at the flagship paper, or spin control. Paidcontent.org followed up with another nugget:
“The reception area at WSJs World Financial Center offices received a mahogany reception desk because Murdoch thought what was there needed sprucing up. So we heard. Take it for what it is.”
(LA Times)
(Paidcontent)

Keep an eye on:

  • Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone’s anti-aging secret? No, not the blood of virgins. It’s “a little-known superjuice called MonaVie,” he tells Fortune. (Fortune via CNN Money)
  • Rupert’s wife Wendi Deng made $83,333 in fiscal year ending June 30, 2007. Her salary as director of News Corp joint venture MySpace China Holdings will rise to $100,000 per year plus options amounting to 2.5 percent of diluted shares of the venture. (Paidcontent)
  • How long should you wait if your company falls victim to a security breach, which results in the theft of confidential info for more than a million users? Five days, if you’re Monster.com. (Reuters)
  • Silicon Alley Insider checks Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker’s math on how much Google will make from its new overlay ads on YouTube. Meeker says $4.8 billion gross revenue. Insider’s Henry Blodget says $360 million. Somebody needs a new calculator. (Silicon Alley Insider)
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