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The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va., Bill Freehling column
(Free Lance-Star, The (Fredericksburg, VA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jan. 11--A theme that seems to connect overachievers at the highest levels of their professions is an internal drive that motivates their otherwise inexplicable passion.
Warren Buffett long ago made more money than he'll ever need, yet he says he "tap dances" to work in the pursuit of the next big deal.
Michael Phelps has already broken every conceivable Olympic record, yet he'll spend about every day of the next four years punishing his body in the pool to win even more swimming medals in 2012.
Bill Gates could have kicked up his heels years ago, content to ride his Microsoft dividend checks into the sunset. Yet he now toils to change the world with his philanthropy. And the list goes on.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch -- whose News Corp. owns the Fox network, MySpace and a worldwide newspaper empire that since 2007 has included The Wall Street Journal -- strikes me as being in that same group of people who are driven by factors other than money.
That's the impression I got from Michael Wolff's excellent book "The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch."
Wolff, an author and columnist for "Vanity Fair," chronicles Murdoch's life in the context of his strategy for acquiring Dow Jones & Co., the former publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Barron's.
Murdoch has developed a reputation both as a shrewd businessman and a controversial figure widely criticized for right-wing bias and sensationalist journalism.
The book chronicles Murdoch's rise in Australia, where News Corp. now owns a large percentage of the biggest newspapers. Murdoch later extended that dominance to Great Britain and into the U.S.
Murdoch bought The Wall Street Journal in a time of weak performance for newspapers. Though the family ownership preferred to sell to someone else, Murdoch was the only bidder.
Murdoch's drive to buy The Wall Street Journal seemed motivated by the power and prestige it would bring rather than the profits it would churn out. The book also makes clear that the Journal is a key part of Murdoch's strategy to build Fox's business news network and compete with CNBC.
Like Buffett, Murdoch is a multi-billionaire in his late 70s who had no need to zealously pursue purchase of the Journal. But the purchase represented the pinnacle of the game he loves to play, increasing the power of his company and family.
Worried about retirement funds?
Next week's column will be about retirement savings. With stock markets plunging and many companies cutting their 401(k) matches, many people have questions about what to do with their savings.
Regis L. Keddie III, an investment professional at Davenport & Company's Fredericksburg office, will answer mine and your questions about retirement savings. So please send me any questions you have on this topic, and I'll get them to him.
We'll run the answers in this column space next Sunday. Hopefully the stock market won't go down even more by then.
To see more of The Free Lance-Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://fredericksburg.com/flshome.
Copyright (c) 2009, The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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