Anyone think the person with the second largest stake in News Corp's voting stock is going to roll Rupert Murdoch in the interests of truth, justice and the American way?
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Probably not. Sure, the prince takes money seriously – you have to when you're personal fortune is heading towards US$20 billion – but being that rich also means alliances and loyalties have to be taken seriously as well.It's been reported that it was the Prince who provided the shove to have Ms Brooks jettisoned, but that's as likely to have been an effort to protect Rupert from any folly as to want people to pay for the phone-hacking scandal.
With the announced $US5 billion share buyback, the Murdoch family stake in the crucial voting stock (the disrespectful might say the gerrymander) is likely to rise above 40 per cent. Whatever grumblings there might be among the kiddies from time to time, it would be a brave soul to think the family is about to turn on the patriarch who made them all their money, set them up in the business and still holds the reins. As Michael West reports, the one truly forceful answer Rupert gave the politicians last night was the “no” to the thought of resigning.
Prince Alwaleed's present 7 per cent holding will also grow as he pledged his allegiance to Murdoch and the company – this whole phone thing was a rotten apple that has been taken care of, says the Prince.
Thus just Sheikh Rupert and the Prince will speak for very close to 50 per cent of News Corp. The odds of a ginger group mustering more shares than that duo? Buy an Oz Lotto ticket.
Suggestions in the British press that Rupert could be facing his own Arab Spring appear wishful. He looks more Saudi than Egyptian. And just as the House of Saud sent troops into Bahrain, its News Corp shares will be Rupert's allies.
Michael Pascoe is a BusinessDay contributing editor.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/business/no-arab-spring-for-sheikh-rupert-20110720-1ho12.html#ixzz1ScjteBAf
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