Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. has reached a deal to buy Shine Group, the U.K.-based television production company founded by the business magnate’s daughter Elisabeth, in a deal that values it at 415 million pounds ($673.3 million) including debt.
The all-cash transaction will bring Murdoch’s eldest daughter, at age 42, back under the News Corp. umbrella 11 years after she left as former managing director of Sky Networks.
Her return comes amid speculation about who will succeed her 79-year-old father as head of the company. Elisabeth’s brother James, 38, is considered to be the front runner to take over the media empire. He oversees a much larger portfolio, as chief executive of Europe and Asia.
Rupert Murdoch, News Corp.’s chief executive, controls the company through a family trust that holds 40 percent of the Class B voting shares.
Both siblings will report to Chase Carey, News Corp.’s deputy chairman, president and chief operating officer.
Elisabeth Murdoch is also expected to join the 15-member board along with James and her other brother, Lachlan, 39, who has no management role. Rupert Murdoch has two younger daughters, aged 9 and 7, with wife Wendi Deng.
“I could not be happier or more proud that from such modest beginnings Shine will join such an extraordinary group of companies,” Elisabeth Murdoch said in a statement.
The company said Monday it signed a non-binding letter of intent and will proceed with the necessary regulatory filings to acquire Shine, the producer of popular British shows like “MasterChef” and “Merlin.”
In a joint statement, Rupert Murdoch praised Shine’s “outstanding creative team.”
Elisabeth Murdoch left News Corp. in 2000 to start Shine and said the alliance will help prepare her company for future growth. Her job will be to continue to run Shine as its chief executive.
News Corp. is one of the world’s largest media empires, and owns the Times and Sun newspapers in Britain, the Fox News Channel and the Wall Street Journal.
News Corp. and Shine said they will continue to negotiate the final terms of the agreement, which will be subject to approval from both companies’ boards, the audit committee and the receipt of an independent fairness opinion. The companies did not say when they expect the deal to be completed; they also didn’t break out the amount of debt involved in the deal.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More