James Murdoch has defended 21st Century Fox's decision in August to withdraw its $US75 billion bid for Time Warner and taken a swipe at Google as the company's management prepares to face investors this week to explain why it thinks it is better off alone.
He has also joined the attack by Fox's sister company News Corp on search engines saying Google is not doing enough to limit access to piracy sites.
In a revealing on-stage interview at MIPCOM, the global television conference, in Cannes, Mr Murdoch said he had personally been "through hell" during the phone hacking scandal at News Corp in Europe and Asia.
But the now co-chief operating officer at Fox, who was criticised for his handling of the revelations about the defunct tabloid the News of The World, said perseverance had got him through, invoking Winston Churchill's quote: ""If you're going through hell, keep going".
Mr Murdoch's rehabilitation in his father Rupert's empire began in earnest in March when he was made co-chief operating officer at Fox, the more profitable, entertainment arm, of the Murdoch stable (the same day James' older brother Lachlan was made co-chairman of the company and of the Murdoch print empire News Corp).
Within three months, in June, Fox had launched an audacious bid for rival Time Warner which would have created the world's largest media and entertainment company.
'Opportunity in time'
In August Fox pulled the bid, which had been led by COO Chase Carey, amid fears from external shareholders that the company would raise its offer and over pay.
"It was an opportunity and a moment in time where we felt a combination could be very attractive for both companies," said Mr Murdoch, whose media profile has until recently been relatively low since theNews of The World scandal.
"For whatever reason the time Warner board decided that they had their own plan, which they are coming out with this week.
"But we really looked at it as an opportunity in time and given the nature of these things we don't really want to get into hostile takeovers and all that sort of stuff … we are highly confident in our business and our base plan.
"We are a good size and we don't see a lot of gaps. It was really an opportunistic thing to do that we didn't want to drag out."
On Wednesday Time Warner chief executive Jeff Bewkes will face pressure from investors and analysts to outline a strategy that can value the company at more than Fox's $US85 a share bid.
'Larger platform, larger canvas'
Last weekend Fox signed a smaller but significant deal with Apollo Global Management to merge three TV production groups behind the shows including Big Brother, American Idol and MasterChef under one parent would create a "global leader".
In a move that has sent ripples through the global television production sector Fox and Apollo are to set up a 50:50 joint venture to hold Apollo's Endemol and Core Media and Fox's Shine Group.
Mr Murdoch told David Rowan, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine on stage in front of thousands of global television executives: "We felt the opportunity to create something that was the global leader in terms of scale was something we couldn't pass up and for everyone in both companies we want to create something that is a larger platform, a larger canvass if you will, where we can do incredible work."
Shine was founded by his sister Elisabeth Murdoch – who will step down once the merger is complete - and Mr Murdoch was asked to address how his family operates together in business. "It's pretty straightforward," he said. "We have a normal relationship as colleagues … I don't think there is any magic to it."
Asked when he last talked to his father Rupert, he said: "Two days ago. We all work very closely together. We speak all the time but we're always criss-crossing the world, so we talk a lot on the phone."
Google pressed to do more to combat privacy
Mr Murdoch also joined calls by News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson for more support from regulators over online piracy.
He disputed Google's claim that it has done more than almost any other company to help tackle online piracy. "There's no question that they can do more. A lot more," he said. "Certainly Google's not right in saying they're doing more than anyone. That just isn't true.
"The problem with search-driven discovery, if the content is there and it's illegal and you're just selling clicks as a big ad network, you have every incentive for that illegal programming to be there. That's fundamentally not really good enough."
Mr Murdoch singled out News Corp's acquisition and running of social network Myspace as one of its biggest mistakes. "As a company we've definitely made investments that were challenging. Famously as a company with Myspace, which was a total write-off and a disaster."
