Now more engulfed than ever in a virulent phone-hacking scandal, it appears that Rupert Murdoch's days amid the upper echelons of media moguldom are numbered.
With resignations and arrests occurring daily among News Corp.'s top newspaper executives and former editors, even some in Murdoch’s elite circle of fellow multi-billionaires have deemed him kaput.
Monday brought a new resignation, that of John Yates, the assistant Metropolitan police commissioner. Yates follows on the heels of his boss, Sir Paul Stephenson, the head of Scotland Yard, who resigned on Sunday in the phone-hacking scandal.
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“No one can take News Corp. away from Rupert,” a member of that lofty strata told TheWrap, speaking on condition of anonymity. “But he’s dead money. He’s not going to rise again.”
Jonathan Knee, co-author of the book "Curse of the Mogul: What's Wrong With the World's Leading Media Companies observed that media moguls who reign for decades at some point miss their exit.
"Long-serving media moguls with great consistency do seem to 'lose the plot' at some point in their careers," he told TheWrap.
And in the past two weeks, it appears that the 80-year-old Murdoch has lost a good deal of clout.
In Europe, scandal-tainted British Prime Minister David Cameron seems to have become a cautionary tale for politicians who once would have courted Murdoch's favor and coveted his endorsement in seeking high office.
Also read: A News Corp. Timeline: Two Weeks of Unrelenting Scandal
In the U.S., conservative aspirants for the White House may think long and hard about accepting a high-profile role on Fox News ahead of the election cycle.
A notable sign of Murdoch’s already diminished stature among Republicans: It was U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-NY), an arch-conservative, who called the FBI down on News Corp. last week to investigate widening allegations of phone-hacking aimed at the families of 9-11 victims.
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“The curtain is pulled back, and now no one’s afraid anymore," said the Murdoch peer. "He’s lost his ability to intimidate and cow people. He’s not the Rupert of 10 or 12 years ago, but an old, tired guy whose ability to fight back is diminished.”
Expect Murdoch's departure from the highest echelon of the media business to follow a familiar pattern established by other fallen titans -- likely to be messy, loud and prolonged, perhaps at a level of tumult never approached by Gerald Levin, or Michael Eisner, or Ted Turner, or even Silvio Berlusconi.
As a desperate last resort to preserve his position, some close observers of the Murdoch family coldly calculate, Murdoch would stoop to jettisoning his son and heir-apparent, James.
Said another media mogul, also speaking on condition of anonymity: "They won’t catch him. James won’t be the heir apparent.
