(There is NO link to this story.)
DMG’s Paul Thompson should watch for symptoms of RSI with the rate he’s signing cheques, according to The Sydney Morning Herald’s CBD column.
Yesterday, in the land of the long white shoe, he was forking out again – this time $80m for the Brissie FM licence that takes his count of stations across the wide brown land to 67 and completes his east coast network. After last week outbidding Sir Beard and Singo’s Virgin Radio to pay $106m for a Sydney licence, any wonder the ex-Austereo chief was complaining of muscle spasms? "I think my hand gets shakier with every cheque," he said after the bidding was done. No wonder retiring ABA chair, Prof David Flint, was smiling, with media execs tossing seemingly endless moolah his way. Gold Coast’s Hot Tomato, owned by Rupert’s ex, Anna, and her brothers Hans and Jaan, got in just one bid at $52m, which was after Thompson cranked up the stakes with a $50m offer to Rural Press’s opening $30m tilt. With his chairman, John B Fairfax, looking on and mindful of being outbid in 2001, Rural’s Brian McCarthy was back in at $1m increments before offers touched $70m. By then, Thompson had had enough, slamming no less than another $10m of shareholder funds on the table in a knockout bid to walk away with the prize.