THERE is a story, perhaps apocryphal, that sums up both the style and the substance of Murdoch, the on a vacation from Oxford, he, with a friend, went on a motoring holiday in France in a car his parents had given him. All through the trip, Rupert chose the hotels to stay in and the restaurants to eat at. When his friend complained, his answer was: "The car is mine. So I'll take the decisions."
He still takes all the decisions. For NewsCorp. is his car. He runs it exactly the way he wants to. "Murdoch is NewsCorp.," an employee once told The Guardian. As a result, the company has a 'thin management layer' at the top. And that is a cause for concern when the question of succession comes up. The rugby-loving Murdoch (65), who lives and works out of his suitcase and is spartan in his management style, has three children from his second wife, Anna, a journalist-turned-writer.
Closely involved though he is with the day-to-day affairs of his empire, Murdoch is known to be a family man. Anna and his daughter, Elisabeth (27), are often seen in public with him. At the Federal Communications Commission hearing last May, when he was exonerated of the charge that his 1985 purchase of the TV stations now at the core of Fox Broadcasting network had violated federal law, he brought his wife, daughter and son-in-law along. They made a pretty picture in a rather tense setting.
His elder son, Lachlan (24), is believed to be the heir apparent. He is the publisher of The Australian, Murdoch's flag-ship daily Down Under, besides being the director of News Ltd, the Australian subsidiary of NewsCorp., and the deputy chairman of STAR TV. James (23), who sometimes joins his father at New York Post editorial meetings, is the dark horse. But Murdoch prefers to parry questions about his successor. Because the man who is always on the move is not going anywhere.
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