James Murdoch (born 13 December 1972 in the UK) is the head of News Corporation's European and Asian operations, including the British newspapers The Times, The Sun and The News of The World, and the chief non-executive chairman of British Sky Broadcasting. He is the fourth of billionaire media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's six children.^[1] He was formerly an executive vice-president of News Corporation, the controlling shareholder of BSkyB, and served on the boards of directors of News Datacom and of News Corporation.^[2]

As a teenager James was regarded as the brightest of the Murdoch children, but was also considered something of a rebel.^[2] He first came to public notice as a 15-year-old intern at the Sydney Daily Mirror, but made headlines in the rival Sydney Morning Herald after he was photographed asleep on a sofa at a press conference.^[2]

James Murdoch attended Horace Mann School in New York City^[2] and graduated in 1991. He then studied film and history at Harvard University, but dropped out in 1995 without completing his studies.^[2]

At Harvard, James edited underground magazines and drew a comic strip for the college's famed satirical magazine, Harvard Lampoon. He dropped out of college in 1995 and with college friends Brian Brater and Jarret Myer, he backed the establishment of Rawkus Records, an independent hip hop record label. The company was bought by News Corporation in 1998.^[2]

In 1996 he joined News Corporation and was appointed chairman of Festival Records, a move greeted with some skepticism by the Australian music industry , since his only previous experience in this field had been bankrolling Rawkus. He took charge of News Corporation's internet operations, where he invested in a series of ventures, including financial website TheStreet and the shortlived online music site Whammo, with mixed results.^[2] He also continued to contribute cartoons to US magazine Gear.

James is credited with sparking his father's interest in the Internet, and he reportedly tried to persuade his father to buy internet company Pointcast for US$450 million; it was subsequently sold to another company for just $7 million.^[2]

After installing a new management team at Festival, Murdoch purchased the controlling 51% share of Mushroom Records in 1999, and the merged group was rebranded as Festival Mushroom Records. It was at first thought that News might use FMR as the foundation of a new international entertainment company, but Festival struggled even while Murdoch was in charge and after his departure its fortunes declined rapidly; the company was wound up in late 2005 and its remaining assets were sold. The recording catalogue was sold to the Australian division of Warner Music for only AU$10 million in October 2005, and the publishing division was sold to Michael Gudinski a month later, for an undisclosed sum.

In May 2000 the newly married James was appointed chairman and chief executive of News Corporation's ailing Asian satellite service Star Television, which at the time was losing £100m a year, and he moved to Hong Kong.^[2]

On 13 February 2003, James became a director of BSkyB. Later that year, he controversially became CEO of BSkyB, in which News Corporation owns a controlling minority stake. His appointment sparked accusations of nepotism, with some commentators and shareholders feeling that the job had not been opened to outsiders and that Murdoch was too young and inexperienced to run one of the UK's top companies^[3] (on appointment he was by far the youngest chief executive of a FTSE 100 company). However as of August 2005 his performance in the job is said to be generally regarded more favourably.

Following the shock resignation of his brother Lachlan Murdoch from his executive positions at News Corporation on 29 July 2005, James is widely viewed as his father's heir-apparent.

On December 07, 2007 James stepped down as CEO from BSkyB and was appointed Non-Executive Chairman of the company (a position formerly held by his father, Rupert).^[4]

In a related announcement, James will also "take direct responsibility for the strategic and operational development of News Corporation’s television, newspaper and related digital assets in Europe, Asia and the Middle East".^[5] This will include holdings such as News International, SKY Italia, STAR Group ltd and possibly other News Corp. related assets. He will be based at News International's headquarters in Wapping, East London.

Private life

Murdoch has two children with his American wife Kathryn Hufschmid, who works for the Clinton Climate Initiative, a charitable foundation set up by former President Clinton in 2006.^[1]

References

External links

• Family tree