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Murdoch: Patten book would not sell

24.05.07

Rupert Murdoch, News Corp's chief executive, has spoken about the reasons HarperCollins' dropped a memoir by Chris Patten, the former Hong Kong governor. HarperCollins; decision led to accusations that the company had kowtowed to pressure from China. But Murdoch now says the book was dropped because it would not sell.

In a piece in the FT, during which he defended himself against accusations that he had allowed political pressure from the Chinese government to influence his business decisions, Murdoch said: "I had told the HarperCollins editors not to publish the Patten book because I did not think it would sell, but then they went ahead anyway," Mr Murdoch said. "When I then found out they were publishing it, I told them anyone else could publish it, just not them. In retrospect, it would have been better just to publish it."

FT

HarperCollins News Corp Rupert Murdoch Chris Patten

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