MURDOCH LASSOS DAUGHTER BACK INTO NEWS CORP

Rupert Murdoch has brought his daughter Elisabeth back into the News Corp fold. His media conglomerate announced Tuesday that it had agreed to buy her London-based production company Shine Group in a stock swap worth about $674 million that would give her a seat on the board, where she would join brothers Lachlan and James. Shine is one of the foremost international producers of reality shows, which include Master Chef, The Biggest Loser and One Born Every Minute. Murdoch issued a pro-forma statement that made no mention of his family connection to Shine, treating the acquisition as if it were simply an attractive addition to the company’s holdings. “Shine has an outstanding creative team that has built a significant independent production company in major markets in very few years, and I look forward to them becoming an important part of our varied and large content creation activities,” Murdoch said. In her statement, Elisabeth Murdoch also made no mention of her decision to rejoin the family business. “News Corporation is the partner that enables us to maintain our aspiration to be best in class across all our sectors, and prepares and equips us for future growth,” she said. But Nomura Securities analyst Michael Nathanson laid into the deal, writing in a note to clients, “We think this deal will likely return News Corp. to the penalty box and restrain its multiple expansion for the near future.”