thinking about Rupert's take-over of the WSJ makes me think of the late media baron, Robert Maxwell. The question is: how (over) leveraged is Murdoch? As far as I can tell, no-one is asking this question, which seems relevant if we're going to be seeing a recession in the near future.
on Maxwell from the Wikipedia: > Shortly before his death, at a time of high interest rates and during a deep > recession, Maxwell had substantial borrowings secured on his shareholdings in > his public companies, Mirror and Maxwell Communications. The banks were > permitted to sell these holdings in certain circumstances, which they did, > depressing the share price and reducing the coverage of the remaining debt. > Maxwell then used more money, both borrowed and redirected from pension funds > and even the daily balances of his businesses, to buy shares on the open > market, in an attempt to prop up the price and provide the shares as > collateral for further debt. In reality he was bailing a sinking ship. > On November 5, 1991, at the age of 68, Maxwell is presumed to have fallen > overboard from his luxury yacht, Lady Ghislaine, which was cruising off the > Canary Islands, and his body was subsequently found floating in the Atlantic > Ocean. He was buried in Jerusalem. The official verdict was accidental > drowning, though some commentators have surmised that he may have committed > suicide, and others that he was murdered.< -- Jim Devine / "The more you read and observe about this Politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other. The one that's out always looks the best." -- Will Rogers
