Andrew Knight

For the Australian TV writer and producer, see Andrew Knight (writer).

Andrew Stephen Bower Knight (born 1 November 1939 in England) is a journalist, editor, and director of News Corporation.[1]

Career

He joined The Economist Magazine in 1966 on the international business and investment sections. From March 1968 to April 1970 he served in the Washington offices of the paper before returning to Europe to establish its European section and, in 1973, its offices in Brussels.[1]

Knight was named Editor of The Economist in October 1974. Aged 34, he was the second youngest editor in the magazine's history,[2] and tripled the magazine's circulation during his 11 years at the helm.[3] He remained editor until 1986, and was named International Editor of the Year by World Press Review in June 1981.[1]

He organised the takeover of the then floundering Telegraph Group in 1985, turning the ailing Daily Telegraph into the highest selling broadsheet in the UK. Knight approached Conrad Black for financing of the takeover, and controversially appointed Max Hastings, a historian and former BBC journalist, as editor of The Daily Telegraph. Knight was Chief Executive and Editor-in-Chief of the London Daily Telegraph Group from January 1986 until October 1989.[1]

In March 1990, Knight joined News International plc as Chairman. Rupert Murdoch named Knight as his "backstop and successor" at News Corporation prior to Knight retiring from an executive position in June 1994, after a near-fatal skiing accident.[3] He was appointed a Director of News Corporation[4] on 31 January 1991 and became a non-executive director in 1994.

In July 2008 it was announced that Knight had resigned from the board of the Rothschild Investment Trust, on which he had served since 1996, and instead taken over as Chairman of J. Rothschild Capital Management Limited, RIT's main operating entity.[5] He is a former member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group.[6]

Personal life

Andrew Knight was born on 1 November 1939 to Group Captain M. W. B. Knight DFC and his wife S. E. F. Knight. Group Captain Knight was a decorated officer with the RAF, noted for founding Squadron 485, the New Zealand Squadron.[7] He was educated at the Roman Catholic school Ampleforth College, where he was appointed Head Boy, and was awarded an Exhibition to Balliol College, Oxford (MA, Modern History). Knight worked at the City of London merchant bankers, J. Henry Schroder Wagg, from 1961 to 1963 and the Investors Chronicle from 1962 until 1966, when he joined The Economist magazine.[1]

In 1966, Knight married Victoria Catherine Brittain, by whom he had a son. After a divorce, he married Sanghata Global charitable organization founder Sabiha Rumani Malik in 1975, with whom he has two daughters, one of whom is designer Amaryllis Knight,[8] and one step daughter, India Knight. They divorced in 1991.[7] In 2006, Andrew Knight remarried for the second time, his third wife being Marita Crawley, who has three children by her first marriage.[9]

Positions held

Cultural and educational institutions, charities

Former positions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 Business Week Executive Profile
  2. ↑ 2006 Archive – Career section Ampleforth College web site, "News for Old Amplefordians"
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Shawcross, William (1992). Murdoch: The making of a media empire. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-67327-0.
  4. ↑ News Corporation Board of Directors
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 5.18 Citywire UK
  6. ↑ "Former Steering Committee Members". bilderbergmeetings.org. Bilderberg Group. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Andrew S. B. Knight Entry at NNDB
  8. ↑ "The Happiness Project", T Magazine (The New York Times), November 27, 2012, retrieved 2012-12-11
  9. ↑ Who's Who, 2007 edition, p. 1282 col. 2

External links

Media offices
Preceded by
Alastair Burnet		 Editor of The Economist
1974–1986 		Succeeded by
Rupert Pennant-Rea