War At The Wall Street Journal: Inside the Struggle To Control an American Business Empire
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
A tale about big business, an imploding dynasty, a mogul at war, and a deal that epitomized an era of change
While working at the Wall Street Journal, Sarah Ellison won praise for covering the $5 billion acquisition that transformed the pride of Dow Jones and the estimable but eccentric Bancroft family into the jewel of Rupert Murdoch’s kingdom. Here she expands that story, using her knowledge of the paper and its people to go deep inside the landmark transaction, as no outsider has or can, and also far beyond it, into the rocky transition when Murdoch’s crew tussled with old Journal hands and geared up for battle with the New York Times. With access to all the players, Ellison moves from newsrooms to estates and shows Murdoch, finally, for who he is—maneuvering, firing, undoing all that the Bancrofts had protected. Her superlative account transforms news of the deal into a timeless chronicle of American life and power.
Related to War At The Wall Street Journal
Related ebooks
Broken Bargain: Bankers, Bailouts, and the Struggle to Tame Wall Street Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Wall Streeters: The Creators and Corruptors of American Finance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wall Street Wars: The Epic Battles with Washington that Created the Modern Financial System Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBanking On America: How TD Bank Rose to the Top and Took on the U.S.A. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bronfmans: The Rise and Fall of the House of Seagram Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rupert Murdoch: A Reassessment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe History of the Times: The Murdoch Years Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMasters of Enterprise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Risky Business: An Insider's Account of the Disaster at Lloyd's of London Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe White Sharks of Wall Street: Thomas Mellon Evans and the Original Corporate Raiders Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen Money Was In Fashion: Henry Goldman, Goldman Sachs, and the Founding of Wall Street Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Last Partnerships: Inside the Great Wall Street Dynasties Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Women of Berkshire Hathaway: Lessons from Warren Buffett's Female CEOs and Directors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Time for Reflection: An Autobiography Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wriston: Walter Wriston, Citibank, and the Rise and Fall of American Financial Supremacy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStealing Time: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Collapse of AOL Time Warner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shirt Tales: The Stories Behind a Successful Start-up Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA History of Howard Johnson's: How a Massachusetts Soda Fountain Became an American Icon Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Charles Schwab: How One Company Beat Wall Street and Reinvented the Brokerage Industry Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Last Days in Monaco Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLion of the Senate: When Ted Kennedy Rallied the Democrats in a GOP Congress Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bull by the Horns: Fighting to Save Main Street from Wall Street and Wall Street from Itself Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Money and Markets: A Wall Street Memoir Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Eagle on the Street: The SEC and Wall Street during the Reagan Years Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Latin Lessons: How South America Stopped Listening to the United States and Started Prospering Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Distilled: A Memoir of Family, Seagram, Baseball, and Philanthropy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Borrowed Time: Two Centuries of Booms, Busts, and Bailouts at Citi Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Industries For You
YouTube Secrets: The Ultimate Guide to Growing Your Following and Making Money as a Video I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe to Turn your Passion into Profit Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How We Do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks About Being Sick in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5YouTube 101: The Ultimate Guide to Start a Successful YouTube channel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Uncanny Valley: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary and Analysis of The Case Against Sugar: Based on the Book by Gary Taubes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellence Wins: A No-Nonsense Guide to Becoming the Best in a World of Compromise Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Becoming Trader Joe: How I Did Business My Way and Still Beat the Big Guys Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pharma: Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sleight of Mouth: The Magic of Conversational Belief Change Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best Story Wins: How to Leverage Hollywood Storytelling in Business & Beyond Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary of Salt Sugar Fat: by Michael Moss | Includes Analysis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary and Analysis of The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals 1: Based on the Book by Michael Pollan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Market Gardener: A Successful Grower's Handbook for Small-Scale Organic Farming Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Study of the Federal Reserve and its Secrets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel Without an Outline: WMG Writer's Guides, #6 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All You Need to Know About the Music Business: Eleventh Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsINSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for War At The Wall Street Journal
10 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sarah Ellison worked as a reporter at the Wall Street Journal when it was bought out by Rupert Murdoch in 2007. I thought this book was a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the workings of the paper, the traditional values of the staff, and the effect that the infamous media mogul's acquisition had on the paper.
The first half of the book is devoted to the Bancroft family of Boston who had owned the paper as part of the Dow Jones company for 105 years. The intention of the elders of the family was to hold the paper perpetually and to stay resolutely out of editorial policy. That worked fairly well until the internet came along and created problems for print newspapers worldwide. The book allows us to watch the dynamics in the family as they grew up and apart. As happens often in extended families, the branches found themselves at odds with different ideas for the company. These schisms were exploited by investment bankers, CEOs and Rupert Murdoch resulting in the sale.
I found the second half of the book, after the sale, the most riveting. While the WSJ and Murdoch were both on the conservative side of the political spectrum, they differed greatly in their vision for the paper. The Journal was known for its in-depth analysis of news and events. Murdoch was primarily concerned with profits and circulation statistics. The two different goals had to clash. The struggle of the editors and reporters at the paper to hold on to the paper's traditional values against the pressure from Murdoch and his team made for riveting reading. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the history of the news media and how we reached the point at which we find ourselves today. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You know a book is really good when... you are on an express subway train and you don't realize you've passed your stop until it pulls out of the station. And you don't even mind that it's going to take you an extra 40 minutes to get home, because that will give you more time to dig into the book...That's the test that Sarah Ellison's gracefully-written and impeccably-researched chronicle of the battle for the control of and the soul of the Wall Street Journal passed with flying colors this past weekend. True, I had a vested interest in the subject, given that I spent the better part of 14 years toiling at the same newspaper (leaving 8 years ago) and knowing many of the characters involved. Ultimately, this book is a tribute to the "old" Wall Street Journal -- a detailed, careful saga that avoids getting bogged down in arcane details about family trusts and the newspaper's history and instead "shows" rather than "telling" the reader how a dysfunctional family, an ambitious media mogul and perhaps willfully blind newspaper editors collided, producing a dramatic change in the nature of a century-old American institution, The Wall Street Journal. Ellison presents everything from inside glimpses of the 'morning meeting' at the paper (complete with the posturing and game-playing of ambitious bureau chiefs and editors) to an inside glimpse of Rupert Murdoch's life, from slavish bellboys to the interior of his private plane. It's business journalism at its best; a worthy heir to books such as Barbarians at the Gate and Den of Thieves. Ellison is a former Journal reporter who had longstanding relationships with many of the key players in the drama; she also got access to the Murdoch family and to Robert Thomson, Murdoch's new lieutenant at the helm of the Journal, as well as to key members of the Bancroft family. The result is a well-rounded narrative that doesn't skip over any twist or turn in the story of how the Wall Street Journal went from being a "public trust" in the hands of the Bancrofts to a feather in the cap of Rupert Murdoch, who had long coveted it. At its heart, the story is one of an impossible conundrum that now faces every newspaper in America: how to remain profitable in the Internet era. Under the Bancrofts, the Journal may have retained its cherished independence, but without the resources to undertake the projects that made it famous. Under Murdoch, the future remains murky; the resources are there, but is there a vision? One of the best features of this book is that Ellison lays out the evidence and allows readers to judge for themselves.Even if you're not enamored of business books, this could be the one to change your mind. The portraits in words of the various players, from JP Morgan Chase dealmaker Jimmy Lee, with his slicked-backed hair and his suspenders, to the haggard-looking Marcus Brauchli, ousted WSJ managing editor, are impeccable. Very highly recommended.Full disclosure: Ellison was a colleague, although we never worked together. Neither she nor her publisher provided me with a copy of this book, nor did they solicit a review, positive or otherwise.