Rupert Murdoch

More than a year after Collins publisher Steve Ross and his boss at HarperCollins met with representatives from The Wall Street Journal to discuss the possibility of a partnership, the ink is finally dry. The first book The Journal will publish through Collins, The Wall Street Journal Guide to the End of Wall Street As We Know It: What You Need to Know About the Greatest Financial Crisis of Our Time—And How to Survive It by Dave Kansas, will be out early next year.

Last November, about a month before Rupert Murdoch formally took over The Journal, The Observer reported that the News Corp. chairman was preparing (okay, "mulling") to initiate a little synergy between his new paper and his old publishing house. At that point, The Journal was publishing all its books with Random House's Crown division, which Mr. Ross used to run. The contract was about to expire though, and it only made sense that Mr. Murdoch would want to move it over to HarperCollins.  read more »

Bad news for News Corporation, owners of Fox News, The New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, HarperCollins, 20th Century Fox, and a number of other major media properties.

According to Bloomberg's Andy Fixmer:

News Corp., the media company controlled by Rupert Murdoch, plunged as much as 16 percent in New York trading after cutting its 2009 profit forecast because of shrinking ad sales at its Fox stations and newspapers.

News Corp. sank $1.08, or 11 percent, to $8.71 at 9:34 a.m. on the New York Stock Exchange after earlier dropping to $8.25. The Class A shares had lost 52 percent this year before today.  read more »

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Rupert Murdoch trusted Michael Wolff to write a nice book about him, but then Mr. Wolff went and wrote all about how Mr. Murdoch ridicules Fox News and is embarrassed of Roger Ailes. Mr. Murdoch got a copy of Mr. Wolff's book, The Man Who Owns The News—which comes out in six weeks—through a well-placed pal in Europe, and now he's gone public in the pages of The New York Times with his objections.

Tim Arango, who reported the story, suggests that maybe Mr. Murdoch is just stomping his feet over this because he wants the people he accidentally insulted to take whatever Mr. Wolff has in his book that might hurt their feelings with a dose of skepticism.  read more »

In early September when Robert Thomson and Tina Gaudoin revealed The Wall Street Journal's luxury insert WSJ. at a lavish breakfast for reporters at the Morgan Library, Mr. Thomson, the paper's managing editor and editor in chief of Dow Jones & Company boasted:

'The eschatological angst that characterizes much of the newspaper industry does not define Dow Jones. You'll see when the next round of circulation figures are released just how robust, how rosy our sales are.'

Mr. Thomson had good reason to be confident that morning: His new magazine had an article about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin just days after she was tapped to be the Republican vice presidential nominee.  read more »

It rained hard on Wednesday. By the time guests started to arrive at Bourbon Street—the New Orleans-themed saloon in the Theater District—the rain had tapered off but the streets had that shiny, film noir, old New York look. You could almost imagine Travis Bickle cruising by in an old yellow taxi talking about how a real rain would some day come to clean up our dirty streets.

It was, in short, the perfect atmosphere for the party Rupert Murdoch was hosting in honor of Steve Dunleavy, the longtime New York Post columnist, reporter and editor. Mr. Dunleavy cut his teeth in New York journalism writing about the Son of Sam. The old New York now familiar only as a kind of ghost story about garbage strikes, rampant muggings, heroin dealers, squeegee men, Times Square street walkers, economic malaise and social dysfunction—that was his New York.  read more »

Looks like Esquire has finally forgiven Dave Eggers.

In 2001, writing in The New York Times 'Style' section, Anna Holmes offered a rundown of words and phrases banned by various publications. Among the offerings:

David Granger, the editor in chief of Esquire, forbids ''Dubya,'' ''at risk'' and ''Eggers,'' the last because he had a falling-out with the novelist David Eggers, who worked at Esquire before he was famous.

In its mammoth 75th Anniversary issue, the magazine lists Mr. Eggers as one of its "75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century." According to the text accompanying his photo, Mr. Eggers was selected "Because he's inspiring a generation of readers and writers."  read more »

How do rumors get started? They get started, apparently, by journalists who seek to connect with powerful sources, according to Vanity Fair's Michael Wolff, who shares an excerpt from his upcoming Rupert Murdoch biography in the October issue of the magazine.

In Tuesdays with Rupert, Mr. Wolff writes:

[Mr. Murdoch] may be among the biggest gossips in New York. In the months of interviewing him, I found that the most reliable way to hold his interest was to bring him a rich nugget. His entire demeanor would change. He’d instantly light up. He’d go from distracted to absolutely focused. Gossip gives him life (and business opportunities).  read more »

The New York Post's Keith Kelly reported yesterday that Michael Wolff’s book on Rupert Murdoch and the Dow Jones takeover is coming out in December, instead of February as initially intended. This spurred Media Mob to get in touch with Mr. Wolff and find out why. We did, pretty much right away, and the answer was just “Christmas,” so we stayed on the line for another few minutes and asked Mr. Wolff some more things.

Below, the conversation is reproduced, though be warned that while none of Mr. Wolff’s words were changed or rearranged, the questions in bold have been reconstructed from memory.  read more »

Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria ... and this! Tim Arango at The Times is reporting something that was probably once unfathomable but utterly plausible in today's bleak, sad newspaper climate: Rupert Murdoch and Mort Zuckerman are negotiating a plan to combine some back offices to ease operating costs for The New York Post and the Daily News.

He reports:

Lawyers for both newspapers are trying to find a structure for an agreement that would not require signing a Joint Operating Agreement — a mechanism other papers have used that would require creating a separate entity with a separate board and essentially mean merging all business functions while maintaining separate newsrooms.  read more »

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Rupert Murdoch lost his wedding ring!

How? Well, he was under the influence, naturally.

According to Reuters report the media mogul was getting "sloshed" with other media and tech moguls at the Sun Valley Lodge. But! As everyone was exiting, Mr. Murdoch stayed behind in the lobby and told reporters that he was hunting for his wedding ring.

Best part of the tale: concerned reporters joined Mr. Murdoch in search of the lost ring--What will Wendi do to him?--in hopes of scoring an interview. Alas, the ring remains to be found.

[Via Huffington Post]

Last week, The Wall Street Journal’s managing editor, Robert Thomson, announced sweeping masthead changes—new people have been added, some familiar names dumped.

Laurie Hays, former deputy managing editor, is off to Bloomberg; Bill Grueskin, another deputy managing editor, is packing away for Morningside Heights and semi-retirement at the journalism school at Columbia University.

Other people left, too. Earlier this month, The Journal’s formidable Federal Reserve reporter, Gregory Ip, said that he was leaving for The Economist; a special writer from the San Francisco bureau, Rebecca Beckman, said she was leaving for Forbes.  read more »

On Paper Cuts, The New York Times' book blog, Barry Gewen writes about Mark Bowden's recent Atlantic article about Rupert Murdoch's acquisition of The Wall Street Journal and his desire to kneecap the paper of record.

Mr. Gewen, you may recall, revealed the inner-workings of The Times Book Review at Harvard last year. Among his revelations: the names and roles of several NYTBR editors, how they choose what books to review, and some intramural gripes like "the magazine pays the salaries of all the rest of us. It makes money hand over fist. And you can see it in the physical plan.  read more »

At 11 a.m. last Wednesday morning, Jane Friedman presided over a meeting with her publishers and some marketing people on the 15th floor of the HarperCollins building in midtown. The meeting was about digital outreach, and offered an occasion to discuss ideas for how the News Corp.-owned publishing house could use computers to sell more books. This meeting, a regular thing, was held once every two or three weeks as part of an initiative called Publishing+ that Ms. Friedman started a few years ago. Last Wednesday’s meeting was devoted to discussing a podcast for BlogTalkRadio.com, as well as an original video that the publicity department had managed to place on a bunch of blogs to promote a recently published memoir about life in a polygamist cult.  read more »

We just caught up with Robert Thomson, who, it was just announced, will be the newspaper's next managing editor, on the phone. "I feel privileged," he said. "I'm looking forward with much excitement to making the Journal, and its news wires, which is the greatest news organization in the world, even greater."

He will move down to the newsroom's ninth floor tomorrow, and will take over chief editing duties over the paper immediately.  read more »

Here's the News Corp. press release. More coming shortly.

Robert Thomson has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of Dow Jones and managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, effective immediately, Rupert Murdoch, Chairman of Dow Jones & company, announced.

The Dow Jones Special Committee today unanimously endorsed Mr. Thomson's appointment following his nomination by the Company last week.

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Check out the above rendering. We got it on Monday afternoon at a press conference to tout the deal struck this weekend between the Related Companies and the M.T.A. over the development rights of the West Side rail yards.

Look closely. An old rendering, from Related's original rail yards bid in November, featured a sign above the concert stage that read "myspace.com". It was, of course, a reference to then-anchor tenant News Corp., owner of MySpace.  read more »

Arianna Huffington made The New York Times on Friday morning for a blog post she wrote on her Web site about John McCain. In that post Ms. Huffington wrote that a few years back McCain told her at a dinner party that he did not vote for George W. Bush in 2000. This made McCain look like a hypocrite, and his campaign responded by calling Ms. Huffington “a flake and a poser and an attention-seeking diva.”  read more »

Rupert Murdoch was standing in a deep corner of the Rose Hall at about 7:30 p.m. last night to toast his fellow influencers: It was the Time 100 celebration, an event that drums up publicity for the magazine's decreasingly influential list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

The day before, Mr. Murdoch had promised investors and reporters listening in on a News Corp. investors' call that he'd prevail in his purchase of Newsday over rival bidders Mort Zuckerman and the Dolans.  read more »

Leon Neyfakh wonders who'll replace departing Random House CEO Peter Olson. "Regardless of whom Bertelsmann CEO Hartmut Ostrowski and his 15-person supervisory board appoint to replace Mr. Olson, it is all but certain that Random House will undergo some radical changes." Plus: James Frey.  read more »

For the past two weeks, Robert Thomson, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, has been busy not being the paper’s editor.

It hasn’t been easy. Since April 22, when Marcus Brauchli resigned as the newspaper’s managing editor, Mr. Thomson, who was forced to describe himself in an interview with The New York Times as the interim “head of content” for the paper, has had nine meetings (in person and on conference calls) to soothe the fraying nerves of his orphaned editorial staff.

“There was a real panic here for a few days when Marcus left,” said one reporter.  read more »

When Robert Thomson met with the reporters and editors of the Wall Street Journal's Money & Investing desk last week, he wasn't shy about at least one thing he planned to tear up from the old regime.

Namely, the plot to institute "Journal 3.0" that was put forward by former publisher Gordon Crovitz.

The initiative was meant to populate the front page with more "what-it-means" stories, on the assumption that like The New Yorker, the Journal would not become a first-read for straight national news.  read more »

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the original CNBC report that Rupert Murdoch was interested in buying Dow Jones at $60 per share. And one year later, nothing seems to have calmed down at the Wall Street Journal.  read more »

Portfolio's Jeff Bercovici talks with Jane Cox MacElree, a member of the Bancroft family who didn't mince words about the firing of The Wall Street Journal managing editor, Marcus Brauchli:

This is why I was not in favor of selling the paper to that man. Words mean nothing to him, unless they're his... It's over and done with, and there's no point in going on about it, in my opinion... I just feel bad for Marcus.

So while the city's biggest media moguls—and the FCC and Congress—start to sort out who can buy Newsday, some curious analysis of the newspaper's Web site is going around.

Yesterday, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said at the Times Center that newsday.com was its top competition for grown-ups.

"NYTimes.com also ranks No. 1 in coverage of the greater New York market, reaching 28 percent of adults," he said. "Our closest competitor, Newsday.com, reaches 16 percent."  read more »

Lose an editor; gain a media property. John Koblin details every maneuver in one very busy week for Rupert Murdoch. This piece has everything: The Wall Street Journal, Marcus Brauchli, Newsday, The New York Times, and Arthur Sulzberger, Jr.  read more »

Marcus Brauchli’s last supper with The Wall Street Journal had been a good one.

Seated at a table in the ballroom of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on 22nd Street NW in Washington, D.C., on the evening of April 21, he’d been offered a roasted red apple stuffed with bleu-cheese mousse; a Vidalia onion-crusted petite filet mignon with baby turnips; a chocolate mousse bombe with a dark chocolate crème brûlée center; and two wines, a 2006 California Chardonnay and a 2006 Pinot Noir.  read more »

And how was your day? If you're a media critic or reporter, it was anything but slow.

Starting last night when "Time Reporters" broke the news that Wall Street Journal managing editor Marcus Brauchli would be leaving the paper followed closely by The Wall Street Journal's Merissa Marr reporting Sam Zell's Tribune Co. was "closing in on an agreement to sell its Long Island newspaper Newsday" to her paper's parent company, News Corp., this was a day of constant scoops and fast (sometimes loose) seat-of-the-pants analysis.  read more »

Moments after Dow Jones sent out a press release announcing the departure of Wall Street Journal managing editor Marcus Brauchli, the following note went out to all staff on his behalf:

To the Staff:

A year ago, I was appointed managing editor, and we set off together on a great journey. We faced uncertainty about our ownership, inclement conditions in our industry and consensus that change was necessary. And so we chose a path of transformation.  read more »

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The deal has apparently been struck between outgoing Wall Street Journal managing editor Marcus Brauchli and his News Corp. overlord, Rupert Murdoch. This press release just came in:

Marcus Brauchli Steps Down as Managing Editor of The Wall Street Journal

Accepts Position as Consultant to News Corporation  read more »

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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Sam Zell's Newsday is close to being sold to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. for $580 million. The story is sourced to people familiar with the situation, and that both parties "have informally agreed on key aspects, including the price, structure and governance."  read more »

Newsweek gives big play this week to Rupert Murdoch's early maneuvers at The Wall Street Journal. Point: He's the general who has declared war on The New York Times.

This is something we've been talking about around here for a while now, and rumors of war aside, we haven't quite heard the first shot around here.

That doesn't change much with this week's story, but there's still lots of juice here.

Here are the highlights:  read more »

Hath Not a Jew Ears? New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier attempts to answer to a question you've probably never asked yourself: Can A Jew Enjoy The Sound Of Church Bells? (Spoiler Alert: yes.)

Cos Célèbre: Ta-Nehisi Coates examines entertainer-turned-activist Bill Cosby's brand of post-Civil Rights empowerment philosophy in The Atlantic. "From Birmingham to Cleveland and Baltimore, at churches and colleges, Cosby has been telling thousands of black Americans that racism in America is omnipresent but that it can’t be an excuse to stop striving," writes Coates. "As Cosby sees it, the antidote to racism is not rallies, protests, or pleas, but strong families and communities."  read more »

Despite a rumor floating around Newsday headquarters on Friday that Rupert Murdoch had purchased the paper, Mort Zuckerman is still in the running.

Newsday reported on Saturday that Mr. Zuckerman is "aggressively pursuing" the paper and quotes an unnamed former executive at the paper who said he's been looking at it for a long time.

On Jan. 15, Sam Zell dropped by the bleak house that is the Melville, N.Y., headquarters of Newsday, Long Island’s newspaper.

It was to be a pep talk: The last decade, characterized by its nearly annual tradition of soul-wrenching job cuts, was over. “We’ve got to get off our ass,” he said to the assemblage of reporters and salesmen; it went over well, less like a scolding than a slap on the butt from Coach.

Two months later, a somber group showed up at the Newsday auditorium for cannoli, pecan pie and coffee to say goodbye to the 36 newsroom buyouts Tribune had exacted from the paper, including three national reporters, several business reporters, its features editor, its movie editor and two critics. (Some reporters were taken off other desks and transferred to the Long Island desk.)  read more »

Condé Nast is inching closer to a new West Side tower.  read more »

Ante up!

Now suddenly everyone is interested in Newsday. The New York Times is reporting that a Manhattan media blockbuster trio is "in discussions" to buy the Melville-based newspaper: Rupert Murdoch, James Dolan and Mort Zuckerman. Sam Zell decides who's the winner.

It sets up a satisfying auction between Mr. Murdoch (Post-owner) and Mr. Zuckerman (Daily News-owner) and Mr. Dolan, who owns MSG, the Knicks, Rangers and Cablevision.  read more »

On Thursday, Wall Street Journal staffers received a memo from managing editor Marcus Brauchli and books director Roe D'Angelo announcing a new book-leave policy.

It seemed simple enough: if reporters want to write a book they need to inform editors ahead of time; the paper can start providing some marketing help—all pretty pro forma stuff. Mr. Brauchli wrote that the change allows the paper to "protect our interests in books based on Journal reporting."  read more »

The Wall Street Journal's longtime and well-liked First Amendment lawyer was fired by a Dow Jones senior executive, a recent hire by Rupert Murdoch.

The lawyer, Stuart Karle, had been with the newspaper since 1992. Yesterday afternoon Mr. Karle was called into the office of Dow Jones' counsel, Mark Jackson, who was formerly the associate chief counsel of HarperCollins and was made the chief counsel of Dow Jones on Dec. 17, two workdays after Mr. Murdoch closed on his sale of the company.  read more »

David Carr tackles the changing Wall Street Journal this morning and writes about the paper's sudden infactuation with politics. Journal managing editor Marcus Brauchli concedes to Mr. Carr that there have been more political stories this year, but that's because it's such an extraordinary year (simple enough). But Mr. Brauchli also offered this interesting quote:  read more »

Rupert Murdoch was on Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto this afternoon and discussed how he had "no ill-will" against Hillary Clinton and how he planned to change the culture of the Wall Street Journal (in part, by moving their offices to Midtown). "I think, when you take over a company and you want to make changes, it is good to do everything you can to change the culture. And a physical move is a big and useful thing to do," said Mr. Murdoch.  read more »