Sociology

Rupert Murdoch is an Australian-born media mogul who has continuously topped the 100 most influential people list for over three years beating an assortment of politicians, entrepreneurs, sports stars and media personalities from all over Australia (Butler). Murdoch made a fortune developing media ventures into leaders in the sector. He is a leading shareholder and the Managing Director of News Corporation which is one of the most influential and largest media corporations in the entire world (Butler). His interests also include some of the most influential media houses and publications in his country of birth Australia, his adopted country the United States of America and the United Kingdom.

Murdoch inherited his love for the media from his father Sir Keith Murdoch who rose through the ranks to become the most influential print media executive in his time. He was the director of the Herald newspaper and the Weekly Times, both based in Melbourne, Australia (Butler). Rupert, born in the year 1931 in Melbourne was mainly brought up in the United Kingdom even acquiring university education there at Oxford University. He only returned to Melbourne after his fathers death in 1952 to take over his interests. He aggressively established himself and quickly became a force to reckon with in the Australian media, leading the newspapers his father had left to greater heights and acquiring new ventures along the way.

Rupert Murdoch managed to become even more famous after he moved to Britain in the 1960s where he acquired the most affluent media houses there. As one of the most prominent investors in mainstream media, Murdoch was always in the news and he was an inspiration because of his successes in the media sector, as well quite influential in politics (Center for American progress). Being a hard worker, he became the role model of so many people and aspiring entrepreneurs and his affluence grew the more. By the mid 1970s, Rupert Murdoch had acquired most of the leading newspapers in Australia including the famous Sydney Daily Telegraph, effectively establishing himself firmly among the leading three newspaper investors in the whole of Australia.

The single achievement that has pushed Murdoch up the heights of influence is his determination and resoluteness that has seen him transform the News Corporation into a giant media company one of the most influential newsgroups in the entire globe from humble beginnings in the form of a newspaper in Melbourne, Australia (Tuccille, 121). Always jovial and a lover of good things and power, Rupert Murdoch is a friend to most influential sports stars and entertainment celebrities, endearing him even more to people. When Nicole Kidman wedded Keith Urban in one of the most star-studded wedding ceremonies to ever occur in Australia, Rupert Murdoch was seated in the highest table, clearly an indication of his influence and social affluence.

To further enhance his media portfolio and exert his influence in the entertainment industry, Murdoch is successfully replicating the success rates he has had so far in the television and newspaper business in digital multimedia. He transforms media houses into powerhouses when he acquired MySpace for a mere 580 million US Dollars in 2005, very few people could have imagined that 5 years down the line, the site would have over 117 million users throughout the entire world raking in up to almost 1 billion US dollars annually as revenue (Center for American Progress). MySpace has now signed deals with content copyright owners enabling it to become a web portal for all types of digital multimedia entertainment content airing the favorite television shows and other programming.

Rupert Murdoch is renown the world over as being among the people who have done much to significantly mould the media as we know it today- in fact, Murdochs effect and contribution on the media and entertainment industries is hard to measure. Since 1952, Murdoch has managed to create a mammoth of a media organization that seems to advance from strength to strength, acquiring significant shares in the market at home and in many other nations throughout the entire world (Butler). Through innovation, he has managed to do what other media investors have failed to do tap into the lucrative Middle and Far East markets. An example is his News Corporations acquisition of large market shares in the Chinese market where the other big players owned from the west had failed to make an impact (Center for American Progress).

With his personal worth estimated to be to the tune of an impressive 7 billion US dollars, Rupert Murdoch is definitely one of the most outstanding success stories of the new age (Butler). His sheer determination has won him a lot of accolades and public sympathy even when his personal life was in shambles. His first two marriages failed, and in 1998 after divorcing Anna Murdoch who previously worked for him, he met and fell in love with Wendi Deng, also working for him and 40 years younger than he. They married soon afterwards. Critics from Australia have condemned that Rupert Murdoch should be given the title of the most influential Australian ever even after taking up American citizenship, but he pointed out that he took up American citizenship so that he could be better placed to pursue his media interests in the American market. Nevertheless, Murdoch has had much influence in politics showing open support as well as funding the republicans.