A game only the family can play

For someone who - allegedly - disapproves of royalty, Rupert Murdoch seems thoroughly thirled to the hereditary principle. The Independent reports:

Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp is on the verge of buying Shine Productions, a company set up by his daughter Elisabeth, in a deal said to be worth up to £400m. If this figure is correct, it is enormously generous, since Shine made a profit of only £5.5m on a turnover of £257m in 2009.

Should the deal go through, Elisabeth Murdoch would probably sit on the board of NewsCorp. There is also speculation that she may be being lined up by her father to take over from her brother James, chairman and chief executive of News Corp (Europe and Asia) which includes the British newspapers.

A bit tough on aspiring NewsCorp executives like Rebekah Brooks and Les Hinton, the Dirty Digger's non-related apparatchiks. But they are no doubt well-remunerated and will no doubt be well-recompensed when asked to take the fall (as they most certainly will). Besides, by all accounts, they are not very nice people ...