GEMSTAR WARS: MURDOCH STRIKES BACK

摘要

It was a shotgun marriage, arranged following a hostile takeover, lawsuits, and threats. That was back in 1998, when News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch coveted the patents held by tiny Gemstar International. He launched a $2.8 billion takeover to buy the company, headed by Henry C. Yuen, a onetime math professor whose patents put him at the forefront of the emerging business of creating on-screen program guides. At the time, Murdoch backed down, merging his TV Guide maga-zine with Gemstar to give the 56-year-old Hong Kong native a company that had $1.4 billion in sales by 2001. Now, though, this marriage looks headed for divorce. In recent weeks, sources in both companies agree, Murdoch has been pushing for Yuen to leave the company he founded in 1986. Murdoch―whose News Corp. owns a 43% stake in Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc.―put heat on Yuen over one top executive, installed another from News Corp.'s Pox TV unit to help restructure Gemstar, and has taken a stronger role in overseeing the company. Murdoch's aim, say those close to the media mogul, is to force Yuen out three years before the contract he signed in 2000 expires.