The Sky Barons

Information is power. To those who would possess power, control of information is essential. Throughout history men have sought to control information as a means to domination and a route to riches. In an age when governments around the world are relinquishing their traditional monopolies on the media or losing them to the imperatives of new technology, this book examines the new breed of entrepreneur whose power will outstrip that of the 1930s Press Barons or the Hollywood studio moguls. The international empires of broadcasting and commercial interests controlled by a handful of people - from Britain's Robert Maxwell and Richard Branson, Italy's Gianni Agnelli and Silvio Berlusconi, Brazil's Robert Marinho, Japan's Akio Morita, France's Francis Bouygues and Australia's Rupert Murdoch to the USA's Ted Turner - are likely to be the most profound single influence on all our lives over the next few decades.