Sometimes the only way to protect one's baby is to get it out of the house and away from the spouse. And that, a media investment banker tells us, is what's really driving Rupert Murdoch's potential sale of The Weekly Standard.
"Wendi hates it and is embarrassed by it," the banker says of Mrs. Murdoch, nee Deng, who's about to celebrate her first decade as the third wife of News Corp. chief. "He wants to make sure it has a future should something happen to him."
Murdoch's Asian-born wife isn't alone in her disdain of the Beltway bible for neocons. "Rupert knows he's its only friend in his family and his company," the banker adds. "And he's tired of hearing complaints about it."
Not that Murdoch lacks for patience. After three painful years spent courting General Motors Corp. for its DirecTV Group Inc. (NASDAQ:DTV) assets, which ended in a successful if brief takeover, Murdoch handled a delay to the conference call about his assuming control of the satellite broadcaster with remarkable equanimity. "Those of you who've been eagerly waiting on hold," he began, pausing a beat, "all I can say is try it for three years."
But that was six years ago, when Murdoch was a still young septuagenarian of 72. He's not only a little older, our banker says, but also the owner of The Wall Street Journal. And its editorial-page opinion pieces, though still right of center, tend not to cause as much discord around the family dinner table.
Even still, Murdoch couldn't bring himself to shop The Weekly Standard. Instead, our source suggests, a well-meaning intermediary intuited Mrs. Murdoch's desire "to kill it if she had half a chance." And knowing the odds of her having that chance are much greater than half, the intermediary identified Philip Anschutz, the billionaire owner of Anschutz Co. and The Weekly Standard's suspected buyer, as "just the guy to solve your problem." - Richard Morgan
See earlier story about Weekly Standard sale from Dealscape
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