Murdoch & Son Visit Parliament and Return With a Big Helping Of Humble (and Shaving Cream) Pie

News Corp. CEO and majordomo Rupert Murdoch tells British lawmakers he is sorry on the “most humble day of my life”, survives a surprise attack and loses his jacket. Other than that, the hearing turned into a what didn’t the Murdochs know and when didn’t they know it Q&A session.
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News Byte

Elvis, Muhammad Ali and American Idol Sold For $509 Million

CKX, the holding company that owns the production company behind “American Idol,” is being sold to private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $509 million. Besides 19 Entertainment, CKX also owns licensing rights for Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali, as well as a majority share of Presley’s Graceland mansion. Deadline and the LAT have good background.

Time Inc. and Getty Images Go Back to the Future With Life.com

Here’s a refreshingly retro take for a Web site launching in 2009: One that only features photos. Lots and lots of really interesting photos. Meet the new Life.com, a joint venture between Time Warner’s Time Inc. and Getty Images that launches today. Not too many bells and whistles, just seven million arresting images.
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Rupe-a-Dope

BoomTown is suffering from Rupert Murdoch déjà vu. Back in July, I actually wrote a post about the head of News Corp. (owner of Dow Jones and this site) in which the first sentence was: “MySpace and Yahoo should merge.” I was referencing a very interesting comment that Murdoch made in an interview in June of 2007 with Time’s Eric Pooley. In it, he floated the idea of trading a 25 percent stake of Yahoo for MySpace.