Rupert Murdoch

SPHERE OF INFLUENCE: Now that he finally owns The Wall Street Journal (and the rest of Dow Jones), you’d think Murdoch would feel he’s at the apex of his career. But the 77-year-old mogul is still eyeing higher peaks—such as displacing The New York Times as America’s top general-interest newspaper. He may also be looking to increase his presence on the Web: his proxies have looked at possible combinations of his MySpace social network with Yahoo.

POLITICAL RELATIONS: Often characterized as a right-wing ideologue, Murdoch is a clear-eyed pragmatist. Hence his decision to move away from the Hillary Clinton camp during the Democratic primary and all but endorse Barack Obama, whom he calls a “rock star.” Still, the News Corp. chief found the time in June to dine with GeorgeW. Bush and British prime minister Gordon Brown at 10 Downing Street.

MOGUL MISHAP: At Herb Allen’s Sun Valley confab, Murdoch misplaced his wedding band, sending a gaggle of waiting journalists to their hands and knees in search of it. (The ring was never found.)

FAMILY BUSINESS: A Murdoch-family trust distributed $600 million in cash and News Corp. shares to Rupert’s first four children last year. The payout was supposed to help heal a dispute about inheritance brought on by Murdoch’s marriage to Wendi Deng, his third wife, with whom he’s had two more kids.

MANIFEST DESTINY: Murdoch’s genes indicate that he’d be an excellent long-distance runner, according to a DNA test he took at The Wall Street Journal’s D conference this year.

PHILANTHROPY WATCH: He and Wendi support N.Y.C.’s P.S. 184M, the first public elementary and middle school in the country that provides a bilingual education in English and Mandarin Chinese.