詹姆斯•默多克有掌管21世纪福克斯的资本吗？

    家族媒体王国把触角伸到世界各个角落的时代行将结束，但有一家公司仍在延续传奇。这就是市值750亿美元的默多克传媒帝国，它无所不包，既拥有哈珀柯林斯出版集团，也拥有英国《泰晤士报》，还拥有美国《华尔街日报》。和形形色色的王室一样，帝国里最微小的权力变化也会被围观和剖析，最近的这次也不例外。

    据多家媒体报道，鲁伯特•默多克将辞去21世纪福克斯首席执行官一职，继任者将是他的次子，42岁的詹姆斯•默多克。21世纪福克斯公司原是新闻集团控股公司的一部分，2013年经拆分后成为独立的上市公司。老默多克将继续在该公司担任联席执行董事长，同时将出任联席执行董事长的还有他的长子，43岁的拉克伦•默多克。

    不过，詹姆斯能否胜任CEO工作尚未可知。他目前担任21世纪福克斯联席首席运营官，但算不上独当一面，因为蔡斯•凯里也同时握有公司实权。迄今为止，他唯一真正独力领导的经历是在新闻集团陷入窃听丑闻期间担任英国控股公司负责人，而他的表现显然毁誉参半。

    詹姆斯将出任CEO的消息传出后，21世纪福克斯的股价应声下跌，但随后有所反弹。2013年原新闻集团拆分为新的“新闻集团”和21世纪福克斯后，福克斯股价一直以来基本保持稳定。

    毫无疑问，老默多克总有一天是要传位的。这位传奇媒体大亨今年已经84岁，尽管他看起来依然精力充沛、斗志旺盛，还经常在Twitter上公布政治和社会活动日程，但很明显他在考虑退居二线。

    随着英国爆发窃听丑闻，在这起事件里《世界新闻报》被指窃听多位名人和政府官员电话，詹姆斯在新闻集团的未来一度不甚明朗。当时甚至有人猜测老默多克会找家族以外的人来掌管部分业务，或者把位子传给他另一个儿子拉克伦•默多克。

    拉克伦一度是人们眼中的接班人，一些新闻集团内部人士甚至称他为“王子”。但他在新闻集团担任代理COO时跟老默多克发生了冲突，原因是拉克伦觉得自己的每一个决策都遭到父亲和下属放马后炮。最终，拉克伦去了澳大利亚。去年，老默多克又把拉克伦劝了回来，让他在拆分后的新闻集团和21世纪福克斯两家公司担任非执行董事长。

    老默多克则坚称，他从未动摇过对詹姆斯的支持。他在接受《财富》杂志高级编辑帕特里夏•塞勒斯专访时说，詹姆斯非常好地履行了管理职责。

    他告诉《财富》：“大家都在说伦敦的窃听事件。但这都是詹姆斯担任负责人之前的陈年旧事。他接手了星空传媒并且[把该公司打造成]印度最大的电视台，大概有八个频道，而且给印度带来了很大变化。他彻底改变了英国天空广播集团，全面提高了标准，而且给新闻集团创造了巨大的价值。”

    尽管父亲给了他如此高的赞誉，但目前的一大风险就是詹姆斯登上CEO宝座后，21世纪福克斯可能会失去“监护人”蔡斯•凯里——许多人眼中他才是站在默多克身后的真正实力派。多家媒体都指出，凯里虽然会卸任，但仍将担任老默多克的顾问（据CNN Money报道，福克斯新闻频道董事长罗杰•艾尔斯也会继续向老默多克汇报，而不是詹姆斯。）

    只要凯里继续留下，哪怕只是当顾问，对稳定21世纪福克斯的股价来说都可能很关键。投资银行Needham and Co.高级分析师劳拉•马丁对路透社表示：“近期最重要的问题就是凯里不能走。”她还说：“如果老默多克向儿子交权意味着凯里将在短期内离职，我们认为这将对该公司股价产生不利影响。”

    目前，默多克家族在新闻集团和21世纪福克斯（市值约670亿美元）的持股比例都略高于10%，但他们还持有一股多票的B类股份，因而掌握着近40%的投票权。也就是说，对21世纪福克斯和新闻集团的未来以及公司董事会决议，否决权还是牢牢握在这家人内部。（财富中文网）

    译者：Charlie

    审校：夏林

    The age of the globe-spanning, family-run media dynasty is almost over, but one shining example of this former Camelot fantasy remains: Namely, the Murdoch empire—a $75-billion behemoth that owns everything from book publisher HarperCollins to the Times of London and theWall Street Journal. As with any other form of royalty, even the tiniest power move is watched and dissected, and the latest is no exception.

    According to a number of reports, Rupert Murdoch will step down as CEO of 21st Century Fox—which was split off from the original News Corp. holding company as a separate public entity in 2013—and will hand the reins over to one of his sons, 42-year-old James. The elder Murdoch will apparently stay on as co-executive chairman, a role he will share with his other son Lachlan, 43.

    Whether James can handle the job of CEO remains to be seen, however. The only major role he has held single-handedly so far—as opposed to being co-chief operating officer of Fox, the position he holds at the moment, where he shares power with COO Chase Carey—was running News Corp.’s British holdings during the phone-hacking scandal, where his performance was seen as decidedly mixed.

    Fox shares tumbled on the news that he is set to take the top spot, although they later recovered somewhat. The company’s share price has been more or less flat since the split that created News Corp. and Fox in 2013.

    The fact that Murdoch senior would eventually hand over his power has never been in doubt, of course. The legendary media mogul is 84 years old, and while he is apparently still as feisty and combative as ever—and regularly uses Twitterto pursue his various political and social agendas—he is clearly thinking about succession.

    In the wake of the phone-hacking scandal in the U.K., in which The News of the World had been accused of hackingthe phones of a number of celebrities and members of government, James Murdoch’s future with his father’s company was unclear at best. There was even speculation that Murdoch senior might either pick someone outside the family to run some of his business operations, or hand the reins to his other son Lachlan.

    At one point, Lachlan was the one who was supposed to inherit control, and was even referred to by some inside the company as “the prince.” But he and his father clashed while he was deputy chief operating officer of the holding company, where he felt his every decision was being second-guessed by his father or his lieutenants, and he eventually moved to Australia. Rupert lured Lachlan back into the fold last year when he was made non-executive chairman of both News Corp. and Fox.

    For his part, Rupert has maintained that he never wavered in his support for James—telling Fortune’s Patricia Sellersin an exclusive interview that his son had performed his management duties admirably:

    “Everyone talks about hacking in London. That all happened long before James took charge,” Murdoch told Fortune. “He took STAR television and [made it] the No. 1 broadcaster in India, with about eight channels, and is making a big difference to that country. He completely changed BSkyB and lifted the bar there in every way—and added huge value to News Corp.”

    Despite this paternal praise, the big risk for Fox at this point is that the ascension of James could result in the company losing its “adult supervision”—that is, Chase Carey, whom many have seen as the real power behind the Murdoch throne. According to a number of reports, Carey will leave his official position, but will remain as an advisor to Rupert (according to CNN Money, Fox News chairman Roger Ailes will also continue to report to the elder Murdoch rather than James).

    Keeping Carey around, even in an advisory position, could be a critical factor for the stock price. Laura Martin of Needham and Co. told Reuters: “The most important thing in the immediate term is that Chase Carey not leave,” adding that “if the implication of Rupert handing the title to his son is that Chase Carey leaves in the near term, we would expect that to negatively impact the stock prices.”

    The Murdoch family currently owns a little over 10% of the shares in both News Corp. and Fox (which has a market value of about $67 billion), but control close to 40% of the voting power through their ownership of class B multiple-voting shares. That means they have effective veto power over the future of the company and the board of directors.