Rupert Murdoch Is Full of Vim, Vigor and Probably ViagraThe media mogul seems gleeful about life (and also his wife!) in a ‘Newsweek’ profile, Bank of America’s CEO is startled by losses, a fifth-grade graduation ceremony gets ugly, and a hedge-funder pays $801,000 for a literal closet in today’s collection of media, finance, law, and real-estate news.
The ‘GQ’ Whipped List Includes Some of New York’s MeekestWe were just tipped off to GQ’s list of “the twenty-five most emasculated, disempowered, henpecked husbands on the planet” by Portfolio’s Jeff Bercovici. He was fascinated by the fact that Wendi Deng, our best friend, pushed Rupert Murdoch around so much. Well, yeah. Doesn’t everyone know that it’s the powerful men who love to be dominated? But what other New York men did GQ out as submissives? Despite the obvious and frankly just-for-show sexism (because everyone knows that all dudes who work for GQ are either gay or Sensitive) we clicked over, and we were not disappointed.
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Changes in the House of Murdoch! Rebel Son James Anointed News Corp. Heir Apparent James Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch’s not-un-hot, not uncool son, is stepping down from his job at British Sky Broadcasting “to take on a broader role within his father’s media empire,” the Times reports today. The paper daintily suggests that the move indicates Rupert “who is 76” (quoth the Times) has a “plan of succession,” meaning that it’s looking like Harvard dropout James is the one who’s going to take over the role of chairman when dad kicks it. (Alas, poor Lachlan!) This Murdoch the Younger, “who is five years younger than his father’s hot young wife Wendi” (quoth us), will not be coming to New York, however. He’ll remain in Europe, where he’ll take on the titles of chairman and chief executive for Europe and Asia for News Corporation.
Elevation of Murdoch Son Suggests Plan of Succession [NYT]
Related: The Boy Who Wouldn’t Be King
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Fox Business Network: The Victory PartyLast night’s launch party for Fox Business Network had so many media and business moguls, you couldn’t throw a canapé without mussing up the rug of some very important dude. Seriously, our throats were burning from inhaling the perfume of wealth and success. In one corner of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Temple of Dendur, Liz Smith chatted with Mel Brooks and Harvey Weinstein. (Apparently, Harvey loves the channel. “I love Roger Ailes,” he said, though he would not tell us what he liked the best or whether he ate Money for Breakfast.) In another corner, Oscar and Annette de la Renta greeted Regis and Joy Philbin. And kingly in the middle of it all, like a pair of samurai and their husbands, were Rupert Murdoch, Les Moonves, Julie Chen, and Rupert’s wife, Wendi Deng. “Wendi, we love your bracelets!” we cried in unison, suddenly morphing into Blair’s sidekicks in Gossip Girl. “They were only twenty dollars,” she exclaimed. Wow, we thought. Wendi is so down-to-earth! “But this wasn’t,” she laugh-cackled, flashing us her index finger, which was adorned with what looked to be the actual Hope Diamond.
