Murdoch looks to Thomson for advice

Aaron Patrick of The Wall Street Journal profiles Robert Thomson, the editor of The Times of London, who is advising News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch in his bid to acquire Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Journal, for $5 billion.

Patrick wrote, “The Financial Times’s foreign editor at the time, Andrew Gowers, hired Mr. Thomson as his No. 2 in 1994. Mr. Thomson rose through the editing ranks and, four years later, was named managing editor of the paper’s U.S. edition. His role: carve a bigger, more visible role for the FT in a market dominated by The Wall Street Journal. The FT’s circulation in the U.S. was just 45,000 copies a day, a spokeswoman for Mr. Thomson said. Mr. Thomson thought he could attract new, wealthy readers by publishing more international business news. By 2002, U.S. circulation had increased to 150,000 copies, though still far behind the Journal’s 1.7 million.

“In 2001, the editor’s job at the Financial Times opened up. Mr. Gowers, who was more experienced at the FT, got the job, a deep disappointment to Mr. Thomson, according to people who know him.

“A few months later, Mr. Gowers flew to New York to check on the paper’s operations. Mr. Thomson, who had become acquainted with a variety of media executives during his time in New York, organized a get-to-know-you lunch at News Corp.’s headquarters for Mr. Gowers with Mr. Murdoch, his son Lachlan and a few others. To the surprise of Mr. Gowers, Mr. Thomson and Mr. Murdoch started joking around, said Mr. Gowers, now head of corporate communications, advertising and brand and marketing strategy for Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in Europe.”

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