Not His Father’s Son
I am becoming increasingly convinced that my fascination with the Murdoch family will die with Rupert. On news of Lachlan’s bid to take Australia’s largest media conglomerate private (they own one of the biggest broadcast stations and nearly every major magazine in the country):
“Murdoch told the Herald: “We’re not keeping Seek within the portfolio because, honestly … it’s not one that I think I can add value to.”
Background: Seek is the incredibly successful online job board with huge profit margins and stellar growth. The holding company he seeks to take private owns about a quarter stake in the business.
Niki, can’t remember which article it was in for sure (probably an SMH one), but elsewhere Murdoch was quoted as saying he didn’t want Seek because he and Packer didn’t consider it to be a “media” play (in their definition one that made the bulk of its revenue from advertising), and that they were after media properties because that’s what they knew…
Maybe he’s planning on Illyria picking it up separately, cos surely he knows margins are still margins, media-based or not…