By Dominic Maher, 14 January 1999 00:20
NEWS Rupert Murdoch has shunned the Internet in a speech to a broadcast industry group in Singapore. The CEO of News Corporation said the Net will destroy more businesses than it creates, by "wiping out the middlemen". Peter Lines, vice president of research house Input, explained that Internet gurus have been writing books on how the Web will cut out middlemen "for some time now". With uncertainty surrounding the right business model, Lines believes the only right one is "learn and adapt". Clive Longbottom, strategy analyst at CSL Consulting, dismissed Murdoch's comments as nothing new. He added: "With just-in-time logistics coming into place, more middlemen will be needed." Longbottom explained that if a manufacturing outfit started up on the Web it would need a helpdesk for enquires, warehousing, a manufacturing plant, workers for distribution, workers to keep records and even people to move goods from the distributor to the outlet. Murdoch also dismissed Internet stocks as 'overvalued', adding that from a media perspective, it poses no threat to newspapers, TV and cinema. News Corporation refused to comment.
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