JAMES MURDOCH will oversee all of NEWS CORP.‘s operations in Europe and Asia in a move that will prepare him as an heir to the News. Corp throne. He will gain oversight of the Times of London, the Sun, Sky Italia and more. Murdoch will also move from Chief Executive of BSkyB to Chairman, replacing his father in that role and taking control of News Corp.’s top satellite TV business.
DOW JONES will experience an executive shake-up when NEWS CORP. completes its purchase of the company next week. CEO Richard Zannino will resign and be replaced by News. Corp veteran Leslie Hinton. Other executives are expected to either resign or be replaced, including publisher Gordon Crovitz.
COCA-COLA will launch a “virtual world” today, offering Coke fanatics their own online community. “CC Metro” is a Coke-bottle shaped virtual island that will allow users to create avatars and use them to shop, watch movies and float on hoverboards. Transactions will occur using a virtual currency collected from Coca-Cola products. All of this will occur on There.com, a larger virtual community that is sanitized of foul language and copyrighted material.
TOP GLOBAL BRANDS have formed The Blog Council, a forum for executives engaged in corporate blogging. Members include Microsoft, Cisco, Coca-Cola, Dell, GM, Nokia, SAP and more. The group will discuss best practices, effective tactics and other issues related to corporate blogs.
ECHOSTAR will change its name to DISH Network and spin off some of its businesses into a new entity called EchoStar Holding Company. EHC will get the set-top box business, fixed satellites and digital broadcast centers. Charlie Ergen will be the Chairman and CEO of both companies.