Hypocrisy: Rupert Murdoch Has Always Hated Antitrust; But Now He Wants It Used Against Internet Companies Who Out Innovated Him
from the the-cronyiest-of-capitalists dept
It's no secret that Rupert Murdoch is an extreme hypocrite. He spent decades railing against any kind of regulatory powers to hold back companies, but as soon as his own attempts to build an internet empire flopped dramatically, he's come around to being a major booster of regulatory crackdowns. Just only against the companies who out-innovated him. For years now he's been demanding that governments force the internet companies to pay him money -- a move that has been successful in his home country of Australia.
The latest is that Murdoch, who built his business empire by buying up competitors and doing everything possible to avoid antitrust authorities, is now a major force behind supporting antitrust efforts -- so long as they're aimed at the internet companies. When the Democrats released their 5 antitrust proposals last week, each one (perhaps somewhat surprisingly) had a Republican co-sponsor. That appears to have been thanks to Murdoch:
Fox Corp. and News Corp. lobbyists have been urging GOP members to support the bills this week, according to people familiar with the efforts, with two sources saying there could be as many as 3 to 4 GOP co-sponsors on each bill. Talks are ongoing....
Say what you want about Rupert Murdoch, but the idea that he's a free marketer and against regulations is nonsense. That was only true when the regulations involved his companies. Now that he's failed to innovate, he's spent the last decade demanding that governments punish the companies who actually competed better than he did. He's the cronyist of the crony capitalists.
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Filed Under: antitrust, competition, congress, innovation, rupert murdoch
Companies: news corp.
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clearly you are confused
Murdoch was never against anti-trust regulation. He was (and is) against anything that prevents him from having "all the monies". If antitrust regulation stops him from having giant bags of money then he is against that. If competitors stop him from having giant bags of money then he is against his competitors.
This is not hard to understand.
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Re: clearly you are confused
So,
Taking over certain types of business in a restricted area, isnt?
Not just cornering a market, but doing anything to keep competitors Out of his area Isnt?
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Now that I don't need this ladder any more...
Gotta love how quickly 'let the market decide!' and 'regulations are government tyranny!' people can switch to supporting as much 'government tyranny' as possible as soon as it applies to someone else.
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