Last Post for a Murdoch Heir
It was a wistful Lachlan Murdoch who
exited News Corp. (NWS ) on July 29, setting off rumors on both sides of the
Atlantic that Rupert Murdoch's eldest son had fallen out with the media world's
most powerful baron. "This was a very difficult decision," Lachlan
wrote in an e-mail to News employees the day he resigned as deputy chief
operating officer of the $21 billion a year media behemoth.
Looking back at his days "cleaning
presses on the old Daily Mirror in Sydney" to running the company's New
York Post and its TV station group, the 33-year-old Lachlan also wrote that he
"knew from around the time I could walk that I wanted to join this great
team of people."
The younger Murdoch said he had
pondered his future for "many months" before deciding to head back to
his native Australia with his model wife, Sarah, and 8-month-old son, Kalan.
But what would prompt the fast-rising
son of a media mogul to quit so abruptly? No one at News is saying publicly,
though insiders say father and son got along well. The problem was that Lachlan
got tired of running units inside the News Corp. while his younger brother,
31-year-old James, ran his own company in London -- the BSkyB satellite service,
in which News Corp. has a 35% stake.
The handwriting on the wall was that
James was the likely successor to Rupert, when -- or perhaps if -- the mogul
ever steps down. Rupert has been CEO since his father died in 1952, when he
began turning a single, failing newspaper in provincial Adelaide into the
world's most global media empire.
Not that it looks like anyone will be
taking over anytime soon. Indeed, the 74-year-old patriarch has said he'll stick
around as long as his board thinks he's capable.
作为世界上影响力最大的商业帝国之一，媒体巨头默多克旗下的新闻集团一直面临着继承人的物色问题。然而在7月29日，最有希望继承这一庞大产业的默多克的长子拉克兰·默多克却主动提出离职。
据美国《商业周刊》7月29日报道，29日拉克兰辞去了其在新闻集团中的职务。拉克兰表示，最终做出辞职决定之前的几个月中，他一直在仔细考虑自己的未来，而现在他终于下定决心，带着自己的妻子和8个月大的儿子返回位于澳洲的老家。而外界分析人士也认为拉克兰的离开对于新闻集团未来的运营和前景不会有太大的影响。
对于拉克兰的辞职，也许大多数人都会感到奇怪，为何他会如此突然地选择离开呢？据集团内部知情人士透露，拉克兰在与父亲的合作交流上十分融洽。而长时间地工作于新闻集团所带来的疲劳和厌倦才是让他辞职的最终原因。在离开新闻集团之前，拉克兰曾经向自己的父亲表示，感谢他在商业领域和生活中对自己的教导，而老默多克则说，拉克兰的离开让他感到非常沮丧，并且感谢拉克兰一直以来对新闻集团的巨大贡献。
实际上，拉克兰的弟弟，现年31岁的詹姆斯已经在伦敦建立了自己的BSkyB卫星服务公司，虽然新闻集团仍然在该公司占有35％的股份，不过对于詹姆斯来说，BSkyB仍然是一片可以展示自己才华的自由天地。而詹姆斯也被视为老默多克的接班人之一。
就在外界对新闻集团接班人的问题争论不休的时候，老默多克似乎坚信老骥伏枥这句谚语，这位74岁的老人表示，只要公司董事会相信他的能力，他就不会离开新闻集团。
（李远）
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