Rupert Murdoch Gets It

Posted on January 25, 2008
Filed Under OMG! Old Media is Dying! |

I like Rupert Murdoch. You simply can’t argue with success. The way he expanded News Corp. into a global media powerhouse is nothing short of remarkable and even if you don’t agree with his beliefs, I think any reasonable person has to respect what he’s done. Most recently, he’s continued to impress. The expansion of his empire into the digital space has seen a number of shrewd moves, most notably his acquisition of MySpace for $580 million. He went on to ink a $900 million MySpace advertising deal with Google and given that Facebook, which still lags MySpace by a considerable margin in terms of registered users, traffic and revenues, has been raising money at a $15 billion valuation, it’s safe to say that Murdoch scored a coup d’état with MySpace.



I was disappointed when Murdoch stated last year that he was considering making the Wall Street Journal Online completely free. After all, with nearly 1 million people finding 99 George Washington-based reasons to pay for the WSJ’s online content, it seemed foolish. So it was with relief that I read the news: Murdoch is not going to make the WSJ Online completely free. The most exclusive, insightful (and hence valuable) WSJ content will remain behind a pay wall and the prices for this content will probably go up. I think it’s a smart move and the timing is good. Here’s why:

Of course, the Web 2.0 crowd doesn’t like the news, but then again, I don’t think they’ll like the bursting of Bubble 2.0 either. The bottom line is that it’s good to see one of the most successful businessmen of our time use some common sense instead of falling into the same traps that his competitors have been led into by the second round of irrational exuberance coupled with irrational fear about the dying newspaper industry.

On a side note, I think some of the things John Furrier says in are worth reading.



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Drama 2.0 spikes the Web 2.0 kool aid by providing critical analyses of Web 2.0, its people, its startups and its impact on the world of media. Other topics are explored when Drama 2.0 has been drinking too much 1975 Dom Perignon. Read more about the Internet's version of Keyser Söze here.

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