News Corporation

Strategic Concepts & Mechanics

Relationship LeveragePay Consultants to Open Doors

Signature MoveGood Cop While Gibbs Plays Bad Cop

Competitive AdvantageMonopoly Infrastructure as Chokepoint

Capital StrategyHidden Cost of Frivolous Spending

Cornerstone MoveSell Before the Floor, Buy the Next Thing

Signature MoveNever Consider Failure as a Possible Outcome

Risk DoctrineBrierley's Bluff-Bid Brinkmanship Lesson

Cornerstone MovePhone Call to the Top, Then Show Up Anyway

Signature MoveStagger Contracts to Break Supplier Cartels

Cornerstone MoveExclusive Rights as Subscriber Magnet

Signature MoveResign from Everything When Time Becomes the Priority

Signature MoveCut-Throat Competition Even at the Dinner Table

Decision FrameworkRide Winners, Cut Losers at Ten Percent

Identity & CulturePhone Stops Ringing Test of Friendship

Strategic PatternState Broadcaster Arrogance as Opening

Operating PrincipleLucky Timing as Honest Accounting

Capital StrategySubscriber Economics Over Advertising

Risk DoctrineAnimal Intuition to Exit

Signature MoveComplexity as Strategic Protection

Signature MoveQuality First Spending Philosophy

Strategic PatternRegulatory Capture Through Service

Cornerstone MoveBack Door Contract Engineering

Signature MoveUltra-Delegated Management Style

Capital StrategyDebt as Growth Accelerant

Relationship LeveragePartnership Through Shared Experience

Identity & CultureVirtual Executive Presence

Relationship LeverageSilence as Information Weapon

Signature MoveFuture-Focused Hiring Standards

Cornerstone MoveLeveraged Cash Flow Growth Spirals

Signature MoveAnthropological Customer Vision

Competitive AdvantageGuerrilla Strategy Against Incumbents

Primary Evidence

"On the eve of the 1995 World Cup final, the chairmen of the South Africa, Australia and New Zealand rugby unions called a press conference to announce the formation of SANZAR (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia Rugby) and to make the shock announcement that Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, News Corporation, would pay US$555 million over the following 10 years for exclusive rights to televise all international rugby tours to New Zealand, South Africa and Australia and a new competition between franchises that would be established in those countries. It was an astonishing sum of money for a code that had had no TV sponsorship until then. The figure stunned not only the rugby community but other sporting codes too. A final clincher in Murdoch’s enthusiasm seems to have been watching All Blacks star Jonah Lomu’s explosive game in the World Cup semi-final against England. Murdoch executive Sam Chisholm—who had helped open doors for Heatley and Jarvis when they were first signing up TV rights for Sky and who Murdoch had headhunted from Packer’s Channel Nine—says that in a call after that match Murdoch told him, ‘This is amazing. We’ve got to have that guy…’[5](private://read/01jectdbce729daxqkxt7cbe8r/#mn38)"

Source:No Limits: How Craig Heatley Became a Top New Zealand Entrepreneur

"Working from a Los Angeles office, Milken had created a $125 billion pool of capital that had helped tiny companies swallow giants and permitted obscure executives to gain control of world-famous busi- nesses. So effective was his operation that a mere statement that Milken believed he could raise a financial war chest in pursuit of a particular corporate quarry—a so-called "highly confident" letter—could cause panic at the company targeted for takeover. Secretive, feared by competitors, and closely monitored by securities regulators, Milken already played an enormous role in the communications industry. During his time at Drexel, he channeled some $26 billion into MCI, McCaw, Metromedia, Viacom, TCI, Time Warner, Turner, Cablevision Systems, News Corporation, and other cable, telecom, wireless, publish- ing, and entertainment companies."

Source:Money From Thin Air - The Story of Craig McCaw

Appears In Volumes

No Limits: How Craig Heatley Became a Top New Zealand Entrepreneur Money From Thin Air - The Story of Craig McCaw