Old Dogs Murdoch, Redstone Learning New Media Tricks

The Economist:

You all think I'm too old," Rupert Murdoch told News Corp executives accusingly at the company's annual retreat in May. For months the talk within his media empire had been about whether the mogul was showing signs of age. But Mr Murdoch was having none of it. After a brief pause for effect, he let his executives have it with both barrels: "I think you're too old."

Certainly, since launching his $5 billion bid for Dow Jones in April, Mr Murdoch, now aged 76, seems to have rediscovered his younger self. His campaign to get his hands on the owner of the Wall Street Journal, a newspaper he has long coveted, has been a master class in mergers-and-acquisitions strategy. It seems likely to result in an against-all-odds victory, perhaps the greatest of Mr Murdoch's career.

Meanwhile, one of Mr Murdoch's (literally) oldest rivals, 84-year-old Sumner Redstone, is making headlines again--not for the happiest reasons, but at least it suggests that he remains fully engaged in his media conglomerate and has no intention of stepping down any time soon. He previously warred with his son, and now seems to have fallen out with his daughter, Shari, who was thought to be the heiress apparent.

Read the whole story: The Economist