Rupert Murdoch is not strictly the founder of News Corp – it started life as News Limited, the owner of an Adelaide newspaper, under his father – but he has embodied it for the past 59 years. The media empire is built around his gambles and opinions, with little regard to what others think.
Mr Murdoch is thus – although they might not want to acknowledge it now – a role model for the younger generation of internet entrepreneurs who are bringing their businesses to the stock market through initial public offerings. They too want to keep control while raising capital from others.
Mr Murdoch this week tried to placate his restless shareholders, some of whom are suing him about the phone-hacking debacle in the UK, by announcing a $5bn share buy-back. It is a bit late to start behaving sensitively toward them, given the way that he has overridden their interests since the depth of misbehaviour at News International emerged.