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Rupert Murdoch - Recent activities

Rupert Murdoch - Recent activities: Encyclopedia II - Rupert Murdoch - Recent activities

In 1999, The Economist reported that Murdoch had made £1.4 billion ($2.1 billion) in profits over the previous 11 years but had paid no net corporation tax. It further reported, after an examination of what was available of the accounts, that Murdoch would normally have expected to pay a corporate tax of approximately $350 million. The article explained that the corporation's complex structure, international scope and use of offshore h ...

Rupert Murdoch: Encyclopedia II - Rupert Murdoch - Recent activities

Rupert Murdoch - Recent activities

In 1999, The Economist reported that Murdoch had made £1.4 billion ($2.1 billion) in profits over the previous 11 years but had paid no net corporation tax. It further reported, after an examination of what was available of the accounts, that Murdoch would normally have expected to pay a corporate tax of approximately $350 million. The article explained that the corporation's complex structure, international scope and use of offshore havens allowed News Corporation to avoid tax. [2] [3]

In late 2003, Murdoch acquired a 34 percent stake in Hughes Electronics, operator of the largest American satellite TV system, DirecTV, from General Motors for $6 billion (USD). Among his properties around the world are UK's The Times and the New York Post, the latter of which he turned from New York City's most liberal newspaper into one of the most conservative in the USA.

In 2004, Murdoch announced that he was moving News Corp.'s base of operation from Australia to the United States. This was widely seen as a reaction to the inability of John Howard's Liberal Party of Australia to alter Australia's media cross-ownership rules, which Murdoch is known to have wanted changed for decades, and which have prevented him from acquiring more newspapers and TV stations in Australian cities. In December of 2004, Murdoch purchased a penthouse apartment in New York for $44 million (USD). At the time this was the highest price ever paid for a residence in New York.

On July 20, 2005, News Corp. bought Intermix Media Inc., which held MySpace.com and other popular social networking-themed websites. On September 11, 2005, News Corp announced that it would buy IGN Entertainment for $650 million (USD). [4]

Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner have been competitors for quite some time. However, it became worse when Murdoch launched the Fox News Channel to compete against Turner's CNN, ultimately dethroning CNN, with FNC the most popular news network on cable television.

In September 2005 the subject of Murdoch's alleged anti-competitive business practices resurfaced when Australasian media proprietor Kerry Stokes, owner of the Seven Network, instituted legal action against News Corporation and the PBL organisation, headed by Kerry Packer. The suit stems from the 2002 collapse of Stokes' planned cable TV network C7, which would have been a direct competitor to the other major Australian cable provider, Foxtel, in which News and PBL have major stakes.

Stokes claims that News Corp. and PBL (along with several other media organsiations) colluded to force C7 out of business by using undue influence to prevent C7 from gaining vital broadcast rights to major sporting events. In evidence given to the court on 26 September, Stokes alleged that PBL executive James Packer came to his home in December 2000 and warned him that PBL and News Limited were "getting together" to prevent the AFL rights being granted to C7.