(Photo: Patrick McMullan)

Supermogul Rupert Murdoch can usually get what he wants; many consider him an arch-villain more powerful and crafty than Magneto. But when he arrived at the Met’s superhero- themed Costume Institute gala with his wife, Wendi Deng (who looked super-lovely in Christian Lacroix), the Monday after Microsoft abandoned its $47.5 billion bid for Yahoo, he had to admit some things were beyond his powers. When asked if he wanted to go it alone and buy Yahoo—News Corp. had once considered joining Microsoft’s bid—Murdoch said no way: “It’s too expensive.” He turned away, and then the man who paid a mere $5 billion for Dow Jones paused and said over his shoulder, “I haven’t got enough money!” And he laughed. Who designed his tux? “I don’t know,” he replied. “It’s something I bought off the rack.”

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Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Bennett Marcus
• Table of Contents: May 19, 2008 issue of New York | Subscribe!