His name gets mentioned a lot, but just who is Rupert Murdoch? You might already know that Rupert Murdoch is one of the the world’s foremost media magnates. But how did he get to where he is today, and what does he have to say about politics, journalism, the future, his life and his legacy?
Who Is Rupert Murdoch?
Keith Rupert Murdoch was born on March 11, 1931 on a farm outside of Melbourne, Australia. Murdoch was initiated into the world of journalism and print media from a very young age. Murdoch’s father was a well-known journalist and publisher who passed away when Murdoch was just 22. As a result of his father’s untimely death, young Rupert suddenly found himself the owner of two local newspapers, The Sunday Mail and the News.
Right away, the young entrepreneur set to transform the image of his new acquisitions by using eye-catching headlines, and increasingly covering scandals. While Murdoch’s new angle was certainly a source of controversy, sales skyrocketed nonetheless. And thus the young pioneer found the formula that would lead him to eventual industry domination.
Rupert would later go on to reform some struggling British papers before setting his sights on America. Murdoch quickly acquired a number of tabloid news sources in the U.S., and soon after, established the News Corporation to group together his varied assets.
In 1985, Murdoch acquired the crown jewel of his burgeoning multimedia empire when he famously took over the the 20th Century Fox Film Corporation and transformed it into Fox Inc., the multibillion-dollar network that we know it as today.
Although Murdoch’s conservative politics that he shamelessly espouses through his multi-billion dollar media monopoly is widely criticized by liberals and academics alike, his empire has been wildly successful with his devoted viewership. Today, Murdoch easily ranks amongst the richest and most powerful people on the planet with an estimated net worth just shy of $20 billion.
Regardless of the controversial nature of his politics, nobody can argue that Murdoch doesn’t have some interesting things to say about the world. Here are a few Rupert Murdoch quotes.
20 Rupert Murdoch Quotes
On Life:
“Money is not the motivating force. It’s nice to have money, but I don’t live high. What I enjoy is running the business.”
“I’m not looking for a legacy, and you’ll never shut up the critics. I’ve been around 50 years. When you’re a catalyst for change, you make enemies – and I’m proud of the ones I’ve got.”
“My father left me with a clear sense that the media was something different.”
“I’m a permanently curious person. I probably waste my time being curious about things that have got nothing to do with the business sometimes. What keeps me alive, certainly, is curiosity.”
On the State of the World:
“The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow.”
“Much of what passes for quality on British television is no more than a reflection of the narrow elite which controls it and has always thought that its tastes were synonymous with quality.”
“Content is not just king, it is the emperor of all things electronic.”
“Advances in the technology of telecommunications have proved an unambiguous threat to totalitarian regimes everywhere.”
On the Human Potential:
“You can’t have a competitive, egalitarian meritocracy if only some of your citizens have the opportunity for a good education.”
“Can we change the world? No, but hell, we can all try.”
“You can’t have a free democracy if you don’t have a free media that can provide vital and independent information to the people.”
“In motivating people, you’ve got to engage their minds and their hearts. I motivate people, I hope, by example – and perhaps by excitement, by having productive ideas to make others feel involved.”
On Business:
“The buck stops with the guy who signs the checks.”
“Our reputation is more important than the last hundred million dollars.”
“Great journalism will always attract readers. The words, pictures and graphics that are the stuff of journalism have to be brilliantly packaged; they must feed the mind and move the heart.”
“Crony capitalism is not capitalism – it is cronyism.”
On Cultivating Success:
“No one’s going to be able to operate without a grounding in the basic sciences. Language would be helpful, although English is becoming increasingly international. And travel. You have to have a global attitude.”
“If the head man in a company is not working 12 hours a day, doing things, taking risks, but also standing with his people in the trenches at the most difficult of times, then the company loses something.”
“We started very small so we could only afford things that were broke or… to start with. You just gotta learn to take it. You just gotta shrug it off.”
“I try to keep in touch with the details… I also look at the product daily. That doesn’t mean you interfere, but it’s important occasionally to show the ability to be involved. It shows you understand what’s happening.”
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