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The Murdoch and Stokes families have long been fierce media competitors, but when they meet in real life relations are much friendlier.
So it proved when Ryan Stokes, chief executive of Seven Group Holdings and son of former Channel Seven chairman Kerry, bumped into – quite literally – Sarah Murdoch, daughter-in-law of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and wife of Lachlan Murdoch, the executive chair and chief executive officer of Fox Corporation, chairman of News Corp and executive chairman of Nova Entertainment.
Both were inhabiting the 21st century equivalent of the Gilded Age – the corporate hospitality zones of the Australian Open. Stokes, walking alone, was heading into ANZ, which has enjoyed a renaissance, after several lean years at the Open, coinciding with the arrival of its tennis-nut chief executive Nuno Matos.
Murdoch, meanwhile, was heading in the opposite direction, to the Emirates marquee, along with her friend Rebecca Tomsic and a few Tennis Australia minders.
Stokes veered towards Murdoch as the pair recognised each other and exclaimed welcoming greetings.
They stopped several minutes of intense private conversation while delighted photographers zoomed in for a shot, dodging said minders.
Murdoch, who days earlier had been snapped in the company of Microsoft founder and billionaire Bill Gates, grew more and more concerned as she listened to Stokes.
Open Season was not close enough to hear the discussion but pondered if the conversation centred around the trials and tribulations of dealing with ageing parents. Kerry, of course, is stepping down as chairman of his media company this month as part of its merger with Southern Cross Media.
The pair had seen each other in December at the Murdochs’ famous Christmas party. They eventually parted with a promise to catch up later.
In a case of life imitating art, actor Sarah Snook, was just a few doors down in the blue and white styled Ralph Lauren marquee.
Snook shot to fame in Succession, a show about the fictional Roy family which displayed even more dysfunction than the generational wealth and power disputes engulfing the Murdoch family. Perhaps she could have weighed in with some words of advice.
Minutes earlier actor Liam Hemsworth – wearing impenetrable sunglasses and unable to crack a smile – had sauntered past in the direction of the Polo Ralph Lauren marquee with no fewer than seven lanyard-swinging minders.
He then ran the gauntlet of an enormous crowd gathered outside the door, whose greeting of him was nothing compared with the excitement they exhibited for K-pop star DK.
Stephen Brook is a special correspondent for The Age and CBD columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously deputy editor of The Sunday Age. He is a former media editor of The Australian and spent six years in London working for The Guardian.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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