Madonna wedding guest and "international man of mystery" Vivi Nevo has more than an awesome name. He also has the ear of Dick Parsons, Bill Gates, and Rupert Murdoch. Except nobody — you know, beside his inner circle — really knows who this guy is. On paper, he's Time Warner's largest individual shareholder, but never more than five percent, because that would trigger disclosure requirements. But aside from the general story about his Israeli-by-Romania roots and his turning a modest family sum into a media fortune, and that he's engaged to Chinese A-lister Zhang Ziyi and invested in Amy Sacco's failed restaurant Bette, we know almost nothing about him!

How could this be?

Because Nevo is as equally skilled about making the right investments at the right time as he is maintaining his public persona as a jetsetting mysterioso.

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MAYDAY MURDOCH Lachlan Murdoch's hopes of taking over Aussie media giant Consolidated Media Holdings in a deal valued at over $3 billion is in jeopardy after partner James Packer, Australia's weathliest person, pulled out, as did American backer SPO Partners. How come? Fears over "the global liquidity crisis and the strength of the Australian dollar." [Guardian]

ANOTHER MURDOCH MOGUL News Corp. director and father ditcher Lachlan Murdoch tossed a bid of $2.9 billion into the hat for Consolidated Media Holdings, teaming up with fellow Aussie media mogul offspring James Packer to cough up the cash. In a 50-50 deal, the twosome are looking to scoop up the TV- and Internet-focused company, which Packer's family already backs. Also: Packer is the richest person in Australia. And Lachlan's non-compete agreement expired last July.

• Top on the Magazine Publisher Association's agenda: figuring out how not to suck the life out of glossies. [FBNY]

• Should you trust President Bush or NYT exec editor Bill Keller? Well, it depends if we're talking facts or lives. [Slate]

• When delivering the news about Kenneth Lay's death, aren't the former Enron exec's ties to the Bush administration relevant? [Media Matters]

• Religion has no place in the classroom, the courtroom, or, for that matter, our subway stations. [Gawker]

• If coked up models can land lucrative contracts, why not homeless models? [FBNY]

• On Spring Street, a disavowed Murdoch son sells for nearly $15m. [NYO]

• It's easier to remember a list of celebrity fuck ups when they're put in a convenient list format. [AskMen]

• If BlackBerry maker Research In Motion can't reach a new settlement agreement with patent holder NTP Inc., we could all be facing a sudden reason to celebrate: no more instant email. [Reuters]

• Judith Miller is "deeply sorry that the [WMD] stories were wrong," but don't think that means she's apologizing. [BBC]

• While Fairchild's fashion trades must stick to Conde Nast's new rules regarding gifts from clients, consumer titles will keep their schwag free for fall. [Gawker]

• Cable companies are freaking out over the FCC's suggestion they offer consumers a la carte pricing models rather than package deals. You might not expect it, but we're actually big fans of the package deal — where else could we get a dozen and a half home shopping networks all at once? [AdAge]

• Now that Maureen Dowd is sitting comfortably as the New York Times most famous female, it's time to forget about that Judith Miller person. [Texas Monthly]

• The timing of Martha Stewart's Blueprint magazine comes suspiciously close to a similar project that was pitched at Time Inc. Unfortunately for our media obsession, it looks like there's no malintent here — just poor minds thinking alike. [WWD]

• Congrats to Lachlan Murdoch and his wife Sarah, who are expecting their second media mogul offspring. [News.com.au]

• Bob Woodward says his source was a "he," and yet some media crits are so quick to rule out Condi Rice. [E&P]

• Magazines might ask the tough questions, but they also answer them. [WaPo]

• Yeah, yeah, telecom company One.Tel's crash and burn cost News Corp. millions. But more importantly: Lachlan Murdoch looks tanned and relaxed. [Aust. BC]

• Blogs with budgets scare us, especially since our writers stopped accepting payment in the form of Starbucks cards. [NY Sun]

• CNN explains away the 'X' on Dick Cheney head as a technical glitch and still – shockingly – Matt Drudge won't tell both sides of the story. [TVNewser]

• Former New York Times scribe Ben Franklin has passed away, and we're not even going to make a pot shot about being electrocuted. [NYT]

• Whether 2005 was a banner year or dismal year for magazine ad sales has yet to be determined. [MIN]

• Suge Knight's belt just got tighter now that a judge ruled to freeze the self-shooter's assets. The imprisoned husband of Lydia Harris, who is due $107 million from Suge for helping start Death Row Records, says half of that judgment should be his.

• Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are looking to take twin actors Cole and Dylan Sprouse under their wing and turn them into the male version of them. Not the walking waif aspect, but the minting cash one.

• Paris Hilton continues snubbing probable ex-fiance Paris Latsis by touring the town with Scott Storch. Supposedly it's a move to generate publicity for her upcoming album. Or her upcoming, ahem, video.

• Meanwhile, new relationships are forming all around, with Tyson Beckford and Foxy Brown coupling up during a night at PM. So pleased were the duo that they asked for a copy of the photo a NYDN photog snapped.

• Maury Povich is back for an additional three years, say the rumors, as he's reupped with NBC Universal to continue airing what amounts to boot camp follow-ups.

• Dear god, we're not sure we can endure so many words on the relationship between Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch. And usually we enjoy reading about attractive young white people.

• It's actually not so hard to get in the door at a Fashion Week show, so long as you get bitchy about your birth certificate.

• We weren't the only ones who love, love loved the circus that is The Tyra Banks Show.

• Fabian Basabe suddenly got Asian, which is not the same as suddenly going gay. Some transitions are more subltle, after all.

• When Ann Curry isn't bringing you toned down versions of the rest of the world, she's pissing off her neighbors. Meanwhile, ex-Entertainment Tonight host Maria Menounos is headed to the Today show to make it "more hip."

• Lachlan Murdoch is getting a giddy-up on his own plans for a media empire, having registered the new Australian company Illyria just three days after announcing he was leaving the News Corp. empire.

• The Washington Post named in-housers Roxanne Roberts and Amy Argetsinger as its new Reliable Source scribes, which should finally put to rest any rumors of Wonkette's Ana Marie Cox taking over Richard Leiby's byline.

• We're not the only ones concerned over Brandon Holley's coming editorship at Jane — the Wall Street Journal has its quibbles too. As in, for instance, should the mag be renamed Brandon? Probably not, as we don't need today's teens struggling with gender identity any more than they already do.

• It's not just Jason Binn launching new luxury lifestyle publications. And, he's hoping, we're the only ones who care.

• MSNBC's Joe Scarborough has a choice to make, and it's between renewing his contract with Rick Kaplan or submitting a bid to run for a Senate seat.

• FishbowlDC blogger Garrett Graff is joining the staff of Washingtonian magazine as an editor-at-large. Not that we're totally ignorant to the bloggers-joining-magazines craze or anything.

• With NBC's dismal upfronts, Jeff Zucker is cracking down on the budget, restricting everything from travel expenses to free food.

• The Washington Post is dropping its support of the Department of Defense's Freedom Walk, a 9/11 memorial event, because of its political slant. The Pentagon had been receiving free advertising for the event.

• Somehow Elisabeth Murdoch, the queen bee of the News Corp. family and grandmother to the departed Lachlan, managed to avoid the "asshole" trait while donating her time and money to charity, as the rich are wont to do.

• Syndicated columnist Jeffrey Seglin spends sleepless nights wondering whether he should disclose all of his business dealings, or just some of them.

• Joe Mansueto liked appearing in the pages of Inc. magazine so much, he bought it.

Now that Lachlan Murdoch is back in Australia with plenty of Vegemite, daddy Rupert's News Corp. is busy restructuring itself to fill the empty gaps.

Whereas Lachlan was set to become chairman of Fox Television Stations, Fox darling Roger Ailes instead took over the position, which gives him control of 35 channels and production studio Twentieth Television.

Already the rumors are swirling as to where Ailes might take the TV unit. Will there be a station-wide morning show? Will they launch a competing late show? Will Ailes' second assistant's assistant get an intern?

Only Ailes (and God, sometimes referred to as Rupert) might know. So how did Ailes respond to the news?

"What appeals to me is News Corp. itself," he said. "This is the greatest media company in the history of the country, probably."

Obviously he's never heard of E.W. Scripps. And neither have we.

Lachlan Murdoch is back, ya'll! Well, not at the helm of the New York Post, but he's back in Sydney and ready to enjoy the good life his his hot model wife and son.

He arrived on Saturday "looking tanned and tubby," paired superlatives that only an Aussie newspaper could get away with without angry correspondence from a publicist.

Sporting Queensland colours - a retro maroon 1980 State of Origin rugby league jersey - the crisp conditions outside Sydney International Airport caught him by surprise. "It's cold," he said with a grin.

Rupert Murdoch's ice cold sneers travel farther than first imagined.

There's trouble in The House of Fair & Balanced. Lachlan Murdoch (you know him as "the cute son") is peacing out of News Corp. and heading home to Australia to be with the wifey and son.

Daddy Rupert isn't so pleased, especially since his New York Post will be without a publisher bearing his own last name. But Lachlan will remain a director of the company to advise in certain divisions. Not that it'll be enough to keep his family reunion invites coming.