Murdoch is Undeniable as Top Deal-Maker of 2007

As 2007, characterized by countless mergers, acquisitions, strategic partnerships, hostile takeovers and credit turmoil, comes to a close, one individual can arguably be recognized as the year’s king of deal-making. Though his methods may have been controversial, Rupert Murdoch made big news during his highly publicized attempt at taking over Dow Jones; a difficult feat considering the company was controlled by the decidedly uncooperative Bancroft family. Credited by The New York Times DealBook as having once again achieved the impossible by purchasing “virtually the only asset in the world that wasn’t for sale,” Murdoch certainly proved his top ranking as the unofficial deal-maker of 2007 (see article by Andrew Ross Sorkin).

NewsVisual created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map of Murdoch’s personal connections to major corporate entities and organizations, including certain family ties that may also prove to aid in his continued corporate triumphs.

After the Dow Jones Takeover, Could The New York Times Be Next?

After Rupert Murdoch was able to pull off his $5 billion acquisition of Dow Jones & Company, the hot topic of industry analysts is whether The New York Times Company could be the next target of a takeover. Investors agree that a buyout could happen, though another strong possibility could be an acquisition through a content partnership. Thomas Hull, Chairman of Legendary Pictures, names Comcast, Walt Disney and Microsoft as potential candidates to consider a deal (see article from DealBook). We created IntellectSpace Knowledge Maps of the Times Co’s ties to each of these rumored suitors in the hopes of predicting the company’s next move(Note: the information contained and presented in Knowledge Maps is public information from the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States of America).

Common Connections Help Murdoch Land Top Spot in Vanity Fair's 'New Establishment'

Rupert Murdoch has once again obtained the top position on Vanity Fair’s annual “New Establishment” list of the 100 most culturally powerful and influential people (see article). NewsVisual decided to look further into this investing giant with the creation of IntellectSpace Knowledge Maps in order to get a better idea of how his connections helped him land this coveted position.

This first Knowledge Map illustrates many of Murdoch’s direct corporate connections, as well as some of his more prominent school and family ties. His links are extensive and the resulting corporate contacts he has made likely has a large impact on his continuing success and ability to reach new targets.

To further illustrate the scope of Murdoch’s network, this second Knowledge Map displays the some of the more significant board connections of News Corp, where Murdoch is the Chairman/CEO. As seen here, many of the Directors of News Corp have multiple other board memberships, which are connections that Murdoch could easily take advantage of in making future investment moves. For example, if Murdoch had his eye on doing business with Rio Tinto, he need only look to News Corp colleague Rod Eddington, who is a Director at the mining and resources group.

Murdoch likely has a similar range of connections with every company he is directly tied to and is showing no signs of slowing as far as increasing his investing reach. It's no wonder that this financial powerhouse is at the top of the investing game.

Click here or copy these links into your browser for interactive versions of these IntellectSpace Knowledge Maps (Internet Explorer browsers only):

Rupert Murdoch: http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=79de03fe-3aab-4088-b2b0-7b5ab0dfb532

News Corp: http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=89e717ab-8987-4628-988d-14e3a6c09f8e

A Partnership Could Be in the Cards for Pearson and CNBC

With the close of the deal between News Corp and Dow Jones looming ahead, Pearson has taken the initiative to develop a partnership to strengthen The Financial Times, its competitor to Dow Jones’ Wall Street Journal. The top candidate appears to be CNBC, which is owned by NBC Universal (see article in DealBook). To find out if there could be any truth to this rumor, we created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map that shows the common connections between Pearson and GE, the parent company of NBC Universal.

The first noteworthy relationship we uncovered is between Robin Freestone (Director and CFO of Pearson) and William Castel (Director of GE). The two are connected through Amersham, where Castel was CEO and Freestone was Group Financial Controller before the company was sold to GE in 2004. This connection as past senior executives of Amersham could have lead to talks of a partnership between Pearson and CNBC.

Another connection that could support the rumor is that shared between Patrick Cescau (Director of Pearson) and Carlos X. Gonzalez (Director of GE). Cescau is the Group Chief Executive of Unilever, where Gonzalez was a director until 2005. It is quite possible that the pair maintained contact since Gonzalez’s departure from Unilever, and have since conversed about the possibility of CNBC and Pearson joining forces.

GE’s CEO, Jeffrey R. Immelt, can also be linked to Pearson, further reinforcing the notion that Pearson could partner with CNBC. Along with Andrea Jung (Director of GE), Immelt is a board member of Catalyst, a non-profit organization. Reuben Mark (a Pearson director until 2006) is also a director at Catalyst, and these shared board memberships effectively link GE and Pearson. Although Mark is no longer with Pearson, he is probably still is in contact with current members of Pearson’s board, and still meets regularly with Immelt and Jung for Catalyst meeting, so he was likely asked to provide his input on the potential partnership.

Family Ties May be Deciding Factor in News Corp’s Bid for Dow Jones

Tensions are high as News Corporation awaits a verdict from the Bancrofts regarding the sale of Dow Jones, parent company of the Wall Street Journal. The family, and in particular Christopher Bancroft, has expressed public concern over the possible tarnishing of the Wall Street Journal’s journalistic credibility if sold to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. We created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map of the Bancroft family’s ties to Dow Jones, and it looks like they have more to be worried about in this deal than the journal’s integrity. Three members of the Bancroft family currently sit on the Dow Jones board: Christopher Bancroft, the unofficial leader of the pack, and his cousins Elizabeth Steel and Leslie Hill. The Bancroft board members along with other shareholders within the family have a significant controlling stake in the company, which could potentially lead to a final decision based more on family loyalty than business alone.

http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=35d53794-f10f-4ef2-a013-ed5b9dfeeef7 (Internet Explorer Browsers only)

The rest of the Dow Jones board isn’t necessarily behind the Bancrofts when it comes to this deal. In this next Knowledge Map, first published on May 1, 2007 (Click here to read article), we see that strong ties exist between the boards of News Corp and Dow Jones, with a number of members of either company currently serving or having served together on the boards of outside companies.

It will be interesting to see whether or not these common board relationships are strong enough to convince the Bancrofts to let go of Dow Jones.

Boards of News Corp and Dow Jones are Deeply Routed

In the midst of a possible acquisition, a visual Knowledge Map automatically generated by IntellectSpace shows how deeply routed News Corp and Dow Jones truly are. Examples of Board intersections include:

News Corp Board Member John Thornton intersects with David Li (via PCCW), Irvine Hockaday (via Ford), and Donald Peterson (via Ford) - each of whom either serve or have served as Board Members of Dow Jones

Peter Chernin and Hamish Maxwell of News Corp intersect with Harvey Golub, Vernon Jordan and Frank Newman of Dow Jones through American Express and the Banker's Trust.

To see an interactive version of this Knowledge Map, click on the link below or paste the following URL into your Internet Explorer browser (other browsers are not supported at this time):

http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=56889998-6107-4320-bdf9-ab752bfc8a11