默多克的杂牌王国（《财富》经典回顾，1984年）

    新闻集团之所以大举借贷，是因为默多克拒绝稀释他46%的股份。这笔股份价值3.4亿美元，通过一家家庭信托进行管理。新闻集团的财务主管理查德•萨利森表示：“默多克的父亲是澳大利亚著名的报纸主编，作为经理人，他在为别人创造财富。所以，他决定不再重蹈父亲的覆辙。”

    鲁伯特设定的紧缩的支出上限，清楚地证明了他作为一个所有者的控制欲。每次收购之后，他做的第一件事就是削减成本，裁减不必要的员工，并安装可以减少运营成本的新设备。尽管新闻公司持有的资产相隔千里，但公司却并没有配备专机。在公司去年的收入中，日常开支仅为1，000万美元。

    新闻集团旗下的少数资产贡献的利润在公司占到了惊人的比例。其中，贡献较大的是小报。正如一则老笑话说的那样，小报记者在报道之前便拟好了大标题。对公司利润贡献最大的是伦敦的《太阳报》，其430万份发行量为默多克带来约三分之一的英国早报读者，这一比例的具体数字为28%。《太阳报》的成功令竞争对手的编辑瞠目结舌，他说：“从编辑的角度来看，《太阳报》非常差劲，但从商业上来说，它却非常成功。伦敦新闻界都知道他们剽窃成性，惯于诱导采访对象，而且侵犯其他人的隐私，他们对英国皇室的隐私侵犯更是无人能出其右。”

    去年，《太阳报》的收入达5，000万美元，在新闻集团营业利润中占惊人的41%。《太阳报》、美国周报《星报》和悉尼小报《每日电讯报》占公司去年营业收入的60%左右。

    默多克需要这些盈利大户来支撑亏损的报纸。而且，确实存在亏损的报纸。由于默多克控制了公司的所有权，因此他拥有自由行动的权利，这使他可以等待数年，甚至几十年，直到亏损的资产扭亏为盈。1964年，默多克开办了澳大利亚的全国性报纸《澳大利亚人报》（Australian），但该报自创刊以来就一直处于亏损状态。

    去年，默多克首次在美国实现盈利。他的美国资产总营业利润为1，900万美元，净利润为1，200万美元。然而在默多克持有《纽约邮报》的七年间，该报纸却从未实现收支平衡。去年，《纽约邮报》的亏损数额约为1，400万美元，累计营业损失超过8，000万美元。而1983财年，伦敦日报《泰晤士报》损失数额达1，000万美元。

    除了周报《星报》和《圣安东尼奥新闻快报》（San Antonio News）之外，默多克卑劣的新闻报道伎俩在美国并没有发挥神奇的效果。耸人听闻的新闻报道、大量的体育新闻和价格昂贵的促销手段才能赢得读者：《纽约邮报》的发行量高达960，000份，比默多克接管报纸时的读者人数增长了约一倍。默多克的“光环”（如他自己所说）使《波士顿先驱报》的发行量在一年内从247，000份增长到318，000，增长率高达28%。

    但是，对于那些以“无上装酒吧惊现无头尸”或“老兵医院怪谈”（这便是《纽约邮报》的两则报道）等作为大标题的报纸，广告商并不买账。与《波士顿环球报》（Boston Globe）占85%的广告收入相比，《波士顿先驱报》的广告收入确实少的可怜。默多克承认：“我们还有很长的路要走。《波士顿环球报》是我们在美国最强大的竞争对手。他们不喜欢我，我看他们也不顺眼。他们太高级了。”

    News Corp. borrows so heavily because Murdoch refuses to dilute his 46% stake -- worth $340 million –- which he controls through a family trust. Says Richard Sarazen, News Corp.'s finance director: "His father, a famous newspaper editor in Australia, was a manager who made a fortune for others. Rupert decided he'd never do it that way."

    A proprietor's grip is plainly evident in the drum-tight lid Murdoch keeps on expenses. The first change he makes after almost every acquisition is to slash costs, discharging whole regiments of nonessential employees and installing any new equipment that will reduce operating expenses. Though its holdings are thousands of miles apart, News Corp. does without a corporate jet. Corporate overhead ate up only $10 million of the company's revenues last year.

    A surprisingly large share of News Corp.'s profits flow from a handful of properties. The big contributors are the tabloids whose reporters, as the old joke goes at one of them, write the headline before they report the stories. Biggest of all is the Sun of London, whose circulation of nearly 4.3 million gives Murdoch 28% of the morning readers in Britain. Says the editor of a rival paper, goggle-eyed at the Sun's success: "It gets worse editorially and better commercially. Fleet Street knows they pinch stories and put words in people's mouths, and their intrusion into privacy, particularly of the Royal Family, is second to none."

    The $50 million the Sun contributed last year represented an astounding 41% of News Corp.'s operating profits. The Sun, the weekly Star in the U.S., and a Sydney tabloid, the Daily Telegraph, accounted for nearly 60% of the company's operating earnings last year.

    Murdoch needs those winners to carry the papers that lose money. And does he have losers. The freedom of action that controlling ownership brings allows Murdoch to wait years, even decades, for losing properties to turn around. The Australian, a national newspaper, has been consistently in the red ever since Murdoch started it in 1964.

    Last year was the first time Murdoch ever turned a profit in the U.S. His American properties had a combined operating profit of $19 million and a net profit of $12 million. In the seven years Murdoch has owned the New York Post it has never broken even. The Post lost an estimated $14 million last year, and its cumulative operating losses come to more than $80 million. The daily Times of London lost $10 million in fiscal 1983.

    Apart from the weekly Star and the San Antonio News, Murdoch's lowdown journalism isn't working its magic in the U.S. Sensational news coverage, more sports, and expensive promotion gimmicks have won readers: circulation at the Post is up to 960,000, nearly double the readership when Murdoch took over. Murdoch's brightening, as he calls it, has boosted the Boston Herald's circulation from 247,000 to 318,000 -- a 28% gain – in just one year.

    But advertisers haven't been eager to push their products in papers with headlines that scream HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR or GRISLY FIND IN VETERANS HOSPITAL (two classics from the Post). The Herald has made only a small dent in the Boston Globe's 85% share of advertising revenues. "We've got a long, long way to go," Murdoch admits. "The Globe is our most formidable competitor in any U.S. city. They don't like me and I don't get on with them. They're very high class."