Very old media

VERY OLD MEDIA
[SOURCE: The Economist]
[Commentary] Since launching his $5 billion bid for Dow Jones in April, Rupert Murdoch, now aged 76, seems to have rediscovered his younger self. His campaign to get his hands on the owner of the Wall Street Journal, a newspaper he has long coveted, has been a master class in mergers-and-acquisitions strategy. It seems likely to result in an against-all-odds victory, perhaps the greatest of his career. Meanwhile, one of Mr Murdoch’s (literally) oldest rivals, 84-year-old Sumner Redstone, is making headlines again -- not for the happiest reasons, but at least it suggests that he remains fully engaged in his media conglomerate and has no intention of stepping down any time soon. He previously warred with his son, and now seems to have fallen out with his daughter, Shari, who was thought to be the heiress apparent. What lessons can ordinary mortals learn from these very old media titans? “First, be your own boss—then nobody can sack you or force you to retire,” argued The Economist a couple of years ago. Also, “greed -- the pursuit of wealth -- is obviously good for you: keeping at it is helping to keep these men young. The money, evidently, is not the point.” The likes of Messrs Murdoch and Redstone have “stashed away more billions than they could ever spend on new houses or wives, yet they go on slugging. Maybe it's the lust for power that drives them to fulfill their evolutionary destiny. Maybe it's the love of the chase. Either way, it beats shuffleboard.” The bottom line? “Never retire—it rots the brain.” Mr Murdoch once returned an advance he had been given to produce his autobiography, remarking that sitting down to write his life story would be like admitting it was all over.
http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9536227