Virtually the same day the Disney and 21st Century Fox deal is finalized, James Murdoch new family office gets its outing and opens an office in India. Could this be the next important stage for the Murdoch business empire?
Disney has paid $71 billion for the majority of 21st Century Fox, netting the Murdoch family at least $12 billion. Sources say the money will be distributed to Rupert Murdoch’s six children, which includes James.
Some of James’ windfall is likely to be channelled through his new family office, Lupa Systems. Based in New York City, Lupa Systems, is hiring private equity specialists and has opened an office in Mumbai, recruiting Nitin Kukreja to head it up.
Kukreja was recently quoted in the Indian press, saying: “James has always been bullish on India. It’s a reaffirmation of this fact that the first office outside New York will be here…It is early days to say what the size of the team would be. It will be a function of the opportunities that we come across. It will be in themes, where there is an interesting interplay of content and technology going on.”
India has been touted as the next big digital media frontier with a huge market of more than a billion consumers, many of them with internet access. Savvy media business brains like James see this is where the opportunities are for media groups to grow audience and disrupt traditional businesses in the sector. India also has one of the most active venture and startup ecosystems, making the confluence between tech and the media particularly alluring to players like James.
And Rupert Murdoch’s second eldest son won’t be the only beneficiary of the 21st Century Fox. Liquidity will also flow into the other Murdoch children’s investment groups. Here’s some more information about them.
