Michael Wolff seems to be an unpleasant sort of guy. I've watched him being interviewed many times, and he really comes off as unlikeable. However, he is also the ultimate authority on Rupert Murdoch (who is even more unlikeable). Whenever he writes about Rupert (and he's written a great book and many excellent articles), I read it. He knows the subject matter better than any other writer on the planet. He knows them all personally--and has spent quite a bit of time with them.
Today he has a great piece in the Hollywood Reporter about Rupert's family drama (succession plans). It's a must-read for my fellow Rupert-ologists. (Photo: Rupert Murdoch)
Rupert bought (his daughter) Elisabeth's company, Shine Group, for $673 million in a 2011 sweetheart deal to lure her back into the fold; after she offered more grief than fealty, he later decided to spin it off. Equally brutal, there is nothing but satisfaction for Murdoch in his daughter's decision, revealed via British media Oct. 4, to divorce Matthew Freud — great-grandson of Sigmund — the most famous PR man, fixer and influence peddler in Britain, a man whose ambition and drive seem uniquely compatible with Rupert's. Perhaps that is the reason Freud, 50, might be the person Murdoch, 83, dislikes most on Earth. (A flush and pulsing at the temples take over Murdoch's face when he talks about Freud.) As happens so often for Murdoch, family matters intersect with business interests, and as happens equally often for his children, the way they choose to live their lives invariably becomes part of his company's internal drama.
