Lachlan Murdoch quits as News Corp exec

[rooboy]

News Corporation chairman and chief executive officer Rupert Murdoch has announced that deputy chief operating officer, Lachlan Murdoch, has decided to resign from his executive roles with the Company.

He will remain a director of News Corporation and will advise the Company in a number of areas.

Lachlan Murdoch said he is excited about his continued involvement and will return to Australia to his family in the very near future.

"I would like especially to thank my father for all he has taught me in business and in life. It is now time for me to apply those lessons to the next phase of my career," he said.

Rupert Murdoch said he is saddened by Lachlan's decision and thanked him for agreeing to stay on the board and a be available to give advice.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Business/Lachlan-Murdoch-quits-as-News-Corp-exec/2005/07/29/1122144019717.html

[GCP]

1. Trouble at t'mill?

Hopefully the Murdoch empire will split apart.

[roguevalley]

12. he's leveraged up the wazoo from what I read. Debt with a capital D.

[Deja Q]

2. Nepotism, eh?

Keep little Lamprey or whatever he calls himself out of whereever he's going into next...

[Moderator]

3. kick

kick

[Dover]

4. Rupert Murdoch's son quits News Corp post

Rupert Murdoch's son quits News Corp post

By Kenneth Li
Reuters
Friday, July 29, 2005; 1:56 PM

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lachlan Murdoch, who was viewed as the front-runner to succeed his 74-year-old father Rupert as News Corp.'s chief, abruptly resigned from the global media conglomerate on Friday without explanation.

Left unanswered was why Murdoch, 33, will step down as deputy chief operating officer at News Corp. <NWS.N><NWS.AX> and publisher of the New York Post on Aug. 31, and who Rupert Murdoch's successor would be.

While Murdoch will remain on the board of the New York- based News Corp., he said in a brief statement that he would return to Australia with his family in the near future.

"I would like especially to thank my father for all he has taught me in business and in life. It is now time for me to apply those lessons to the next phase of my career," he said.

News Corp. gave no reason why the heir apparent as chief executive resigned, or what he plans to do when he returns to Sydney.

Wall Street and associates close to the family were equally perplexed...cont'd

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/29/AR2005072900480_pf.html

[Systematic Chaos]

5. I hope it's because somewhere in there he has a conscience

Maybe there were some things his dad taught him that didn't quite sit so well? One can hope, I guess. :eyes:

[merwin]

8. If it was because he had a conscience, he would have stayed on to

change things.

[lostnfound]

9. Who knows..He's got a degree in philosophy from Princeton

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lachlan_Murdoch

but there's 4 kids and the money & power is divided up through trusts etc until after Rupert dies. Plus Rupert divorced a few years ago, has a young girlfriend.
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/8789/age2.htm

[gratuitous]

6. Uh oh, indictments about to handed down?

Who does Australia not have an extradition treaty with? And is there any word on whether Lachlan's family wants to spend more time with him?

[dave29]

7. I wonder what

Ruprecht Murdoch thinks of this

[cosmicdot]

10. he received a $2 million bonus in 2004

just conjecturing out loud ...

but, only owns 7,057 shares of voting common stock ... which is a drop in the bucket compared to voting shares owned by AE Harris' 28.5% (297,280,548 shares) and Daddy Rupert's 29.5% (307,947,677 shares), that's almost 60% of the shareholders' vote between those 2 alone ... throw in Liberty Media Corporation's 18% and Fidelity (FMR)'s 6.6%; and Lachlan, if he's tried to change things, is outvoted ... the share cards seem fairly well stacked against anyone having much say ...

democracy on the march :sarcasm:

Did he make the statements to live press or was a statement issued, with 'he said' added or read by someone else?

I wonder if he even made 'the statement' thanking Daddy. The HR/PR deparment may have invented the words for the occasion.

"...abruptly resigned from the global media conglomerate on Friday without explanation."


News Corp.'s June 30, 2005 SEC Proxy to Stockholders' filing
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1308161/000119312505114845/ddef14a.htm

[SpiralHawk]

11. "More time with the family" - That's Plagiarism !

The Murdochs stole that line from BushCo, which has it copyright as Piss Ass Propaganda to Cover Their Larcenous Butts.

[Straight Shooter]

13. "time for me to apply those lessons to the next phase of my career."

Considering the "lessons" that Rupert would pass on, one might assume that Lochness is going to be working for the bush administration.