James was always considered the smartest of the six Murdoch kids. After a rough start with News Corp. at 15 (as an intern at the Sydney Mirror, he was snapped napping at a press conference by a rival paper), he studied film and history at Harvard. He left without graduating in 1995 to cofound Rawkus Records, a hip-hop label. James and his partners then sold Rawkus. The buyer? News Corp., where James became chief of its music division. He later turned around money-losing Star TV, a performance that gave him a shot to run BSkyB (his father is chairman).
Some investors howled about the move. But James says his father didn’t sway the decision. “All of my dealings were with the independent [board] committee and the search firm,” he says. For now, he needs to help BSkyB meet a 2005 goal of signing up 8 million customers. Beyond that? Murdoch offers mostly CEO-speak: “I want to hit the ground running, to not skip a beat.” It sure sounds as if he’s running–for his father’s job.
