The Power Index
Kerry Stokes is one of our last old-style media moguls, but he’s no Lord Copper.
With controlling stakes in Australia’s highest rating TV network, Channel Seven, the nation’s second-biggest magazine group, Pacific Magazines (publisher of New Idea), and The West Australian, Western Australia’s only daily newspaper, the 71-year old tycoon should be a real power in the land.
But the one-time street kid and TV repairman has never been interested in throwing his weight around in the same way as Rupert or big Kerry. And he told The Power Index last week, "I don’t believe I have power. If I did, I might be tempted to use it."
However, Stokes does mix it with his fellow proprietors: he gave James Packer palpitations two years ago when he muscled in on Consolidated Media Holdings (which owns 50 per cent of Fox Sports and 25 per cent of Foxtel), and he may be about to ruffle Lachlan Murdoch’s feathers at Channel ten, where he has just bought a 2.1 per cent share.
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