Lachlan Murdoch
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Lachlan Keith Murdoch (born September 8, 1971), is the elder son of media mogul, Rupert Murdoch and the former Anna Torv. He resigned from his executive positions at News Corporation on 29 July 2005. However, Lachlan is still on the Board of Directors at NewsCorp and is a company consultant. Subsequently, younger brother James Murdoch is now viewed as his father's heir-apparent by the press. Their sister Elisabeth Murdoch, a businesswoman in her own right is married to publicist Matthew Freud. Lachlan is married to Sarah Murdoch.
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[edit] Biography
Lachlan Murdoch was born in London, England, but was raised in a wealthy Manhattan neighbourhood, where his father owned the tabloid, the New York Post. He received his education at the exclusive Aspen Country Day School in Aspen, Colorado, as well as Phillips Academy, in Andover, Massachusetts, and earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Princeton University.
in 1994. During summers he would work jobs ranging from cleaning printing presses to sub-editor at The Sun and The Times.[citation needed] At the age of 22, he was appointed general manager of Queensland Newspapers, which publishes The Courier-Mail in Brisbane. One year later, he became publisher of Australia’s first national paper, The Australian. In 1995, he was appointed Deputy CEO of News Limited, Executive Director of News Corporation since 1996, Deputy Chief Operating Officer since 2000, Senior Executive Vice President from 1999 to 2000, and Chairman of STAR since 1995.
Lachlan has been criticised as a "rich brat" for his "poor handling" of Murdoch interests in One.Tel,[1] which lost the empire millions of dollars. In this venture, Lachlan worked with Australian businessman James Packer, the son of Kerry Packer. Lachlan has also been attacked for trying to "Americanise" Australian newspapers. He has also publicly supported the idea of Australia becoming a republic. [2]
Murdoch married Australian model/actress, Sarah O'Hare in 1999. They have two sons, Kalan Alexander, born in 2004, and Aidan Patrick, born on May 6, 2006 [3] Prior to 2003, Lachlan and Sarah were owners of "Berthong", a house in Elizabeth Bay, Sydney, which was subsequently bought by Russell Crowe.[4] From time to time, Lachlan and Sarah host fundraising dinners for the charity Murdoch Children's Research Institute.[5] Lachlan is considered to be a friend of Australian actress Nicole Kidman,[6] New Zealand actor Russell Crowe and director Baz Luhrmann.
Lachlan has a strong personal interest in Australian rugby league. On March 30, 1995, Lachlan Murdoch was at the first Super League meeting in the Atanaskovic Hartnell offices in Sydney. He and former Broncos chief John Ribot signed up leading Bulldogs players on documents which were not legally effective. Murdoch is the Brisbane Broncos number one ticket holder.[7]
For the year 2001, Murdoch earned a salary of A$2.59 million.[8] In June 2005, Murdoch received the Press & Outdoor Advertising "Media Person of The Year" award in Cannes.[9] Lachlan is one of the founding patrons (along with Anthony Pratt, Peter Lowy and Lisa Fox of an organization called "Advance", formerly known as "YAPA" (Young Australian Professionals in America). [10]
On July 29, 2005, Lachlan announced that he would be resigning from executive roles with News Corporation and moving with his family to Australia, although he would retain his seat on the board.[citation needed]
After his resignation, Roger Ailes, the chairman of Fox News Channel, was named chairman of News Corp.'s group of television stations. The abrupt and unexplained departure of the 33-year-old Lachlan Murdoch apparently dashed News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch's hopes that his son would one day take over as CEO of the global media empire, which includes the Twentieth Century Fox movie studio, the Fox television network, several satellite broadcasters, and newspapers in Britain, Australia, and the United States.
In the weeks after his resignation, however, he began a new venture, lodging applications to set up a new Australian company called Illyria Pty Ltd, in which he acts as sole director and secretary.
As of February 2007, Murdoch is taking part in a joint venture with swimmer Ian Thorpe in the hopes of aiding the HIV epidemic in Papua New Guinea.[citation needed]
Lachlan is interested in adventure sports and he is a very good sailor (having competed in Sydney to Hobart race), skindiver and spearfisher.
On 21 January 2008, Lachlan and James Packer announced that their companies, Illyria Pty Ltd and Consolidated Press Holdings would seek to privatise Consolidated Media Holdings which owns holdings in the Nine Network, Foxtel and Australian Consolidated Press. [11]
On January 24th 2008 Lachlan, along with Manoj Badale and Suresh Chellaram under the banner of Emerging Media successfully bid for the Rajasthan Royals franchise in the inaugural Indian Premier League for US$67 million.
[edit] Quotes
[edit] By Lachlan
- "Good journalism is good business practice; good business supports great journalism." (Andrew Olle Media Lecture, 18 October 2002)
- "You can see here that the Australian media elite define their club through standards designed only to exclude." (Andrew Olle Media Lecture, 18 October 2002)
- "One of the problems with American newspapers is that the design, the look, and the feel lack any sort of vigor, that's a pity." [12]
[edit] About Lachlan
- "He (Lachlan) was a gentleman, and he called to be sure that the contretemps last week was between him and the New York Daily News, not between him and me." — (Ken Auletta, writer for The New Yorker, after a story that the New York Post was losing $40 million a year)[13]
[edit] External links
- Some information about Lachlan
- Biographical article about Lachlan
- Detailed profile of Lachlan (Editor And Publisher Journal, December 16, 2002 by Joe Strupp
- Lachlan Murdoch - Libertarian from Advocates for Self-Government website
[edit] Decision to leave News Corporation
- Detailed article from the New York Magazine (September 19, 2005 by Steve Fishman) reportedly written with Lachlan's co-operation.
- Melbourne Age article
- Guardian article (August 1, 2005)
- USA Today article
[edit] Speeches
- Lachlan Murdochs "Andrew Olle Media Lecture" 18 October 2002
- National Press Club of the U.S., 21 September 1999
[edit] References
- ^ Luckhurst, Tim. "Media: So where does Rupert Murdoch go from here?" The Independent on Sunday. 31 July 2005. Retrieved from FindArticles.com on 17 March 2008.
- ^ "Interview with Lachlan Murdoch, News Corporation." National ABC Radio AM 8.21 am. 22 September 1999. Retrieved from Republic.org.au on 11 March 2008.
- ^ "Murdochs welcome their second son" - Heraldsun.news.com.au 7 May 2006. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
- ^ Sams, Christine. "On the move with Russell and Danielle." The Sun-Herald. 1 June 2003. Retrieved from Smh.com.au on 11 March 2008.
- ^ Our Ambassador Sarah Murdoch and the Development Board - MCRI.edu.au Retrieved from Internet Archive on 17 September 2006.
- ^ "Murdoch, Kidman play catch-up at the tennis." The Sun-Herald. 4 September 2005. Retrieved from SMH.com.au on 11 March 2008.
- ^ "Lachlan's legacy: $560m lost on Super League." The Australian Financial Review. 5 August 2005. Posted at www.souths.com.au. Retrieved from Internet Archive on 14 March 2006.
- ^ "Rappers, Fulon Gong and lots of questions." Crikey.com.au 7 October 2001. Retrieved from Internet Archive on 26 May 2005.
- ^ "Lachlan Murdoch heckled in Cannes." The Sydney Morning Herald blogs Retrieved from SMH.com.au on 23 June 2005.
- ^ Speech for 2005 Advance benefit by The Hon. Consul General Ken Allen Am at Cipriani, Wall Street. Posted at AutraliaNYC.org. Retrieved from Internet Archive on 24 August 2006.
- ^ "Murdoch junior to seize control of old Packer empire." Scopical.com.au 21 January 2008. Retrieved on 17 March 2008.
- ^ Strupp, Joe. "Murdoch, the Next Generation." Editor and Publisher.com 16 December 2002. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
- ^ McEvoy, Dermot. "Media Monitor: 1/5/2004" Publishers Weekly. 5 January 2004. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
This article contains content from the defunct wiki, HierarchyPedia, used here under the GNU Free Documentation License
[edit] Articles
- Kirkpatrick, David, "Murdoch Gets a Jewel. Who'll Get His Crown?" New York Times, December 28, 2003.
- Milliken, Robert, "Lachlan Murdoch; Heir to the Sun and Sky," Independent (London), May 7, 1995.
- Pappu, Sridhar, "Lachlan Murdoch, Spiky Punk Heir Right for Post?" New York Observer, November 24, 2003.
- Salamon, Julie, "Television: An American Story; A Family That Tried to Be Both Rich and Good," New York Times, October 1, 2000.
- Neil Chenoweth, The Australian Financial Review, August 5, 2005, on Lachlan's involvement in Australian Super League shenanigans.
[edit] Books
- Wendy Rohm Murdoch Mission (2002). Interviews with various Murdoch family members
- Neil Chenoweth Virtual Murdoch (2001). Mainly about Rupert Murdoch
- Paul Barry, Rich Kids, Bantam Books, 2002, ISBN 1-86325-338-6
