IT’S HAPPY FAMILIES AS LIZ GOES IN-HOUSE
BEFORE heading out to lunch yesterday, Elisabeth Murdoch, or “Liz”, fired off a quick, “confidential” email to her several hundred employees at Shine Group, the media group snapped up by News Corp.
Luckily, it was quickly forwarded on to The Capitalist.
“I did want to take a minute to thank you all for your patience while I have had to be uncharacteristically, if necessarily, discreet about our conversations with News,” Elisabeth wrote graciously, expressing what was surely an unnecessary regret for having such cosy private chats with her brother and dad over at News Corp.
“While we will officially have a bigger home, Shine will continue to operate as we do now,” she adds breezily. Considerate of her to reassure the troops, but surely it is Elisabeth herself who will have to adjust to the strange sense of deja vu involved in moving back in-house into a bigger home with the family?
The deal, she says, “provides an enormous canvas for our talent and will continue to challenge us to be our best selves”. It’s certainly a more cheery portrait of Rupert Murdoch’s imposing style than has at times appeared in print. Family first, after all.
TOWER RECORDS
Do you ever tire of hitting elevator buttons? Ever wonder what you’re missing in the drafty stairwells of these steel and glass monoliths of the City?
Perhaps not, but those who skip this last chance to sign up for Tower 42’s “vertical rush” will certainly miss out on a flurry of stairwell action next week as hundreds of keen beans race up the building’s 920 steps to raise money for Shelter.
“Participants of all fitness levels are invited,” says the charity, though that might be small comfort as you’re gasping up the tenth floor on the heels of that spritely bloke from HR.
Athletes from seven countries will be leading the race, which is the London leg of “the vertical world circuit”, a big deal apparently in the “tower-running world”, where runners compete to set new records for various lengthy buildings.
The New York leg takes place up the 102-storey Empire State Building, which means Londons’ runners can at least be glad we don’t make ’em half as tall over here.
BOOBY TRAP
If churning up a few dozen floors in aid of charity isn’t your cup of tea, there’s another, lazier option: sponsoring a vertical plunge of rather larger proportions.
Deloitte partner and vice-chair Ellie Patsalos (pictured above) and Kenneth Green Associates managing director Linda Taylor have opted to make leaps of faith in aid of Breakthrough Breastcancer’s “Booby Birds” fundraising, wherein ten ladies in shocking pink jumpsuits go skydiving to raise cash for the cause.
Taylor, in particular, is going up against a morbid fear of heights for the event, which should surely help to loosen the purse strings before the June jump.
GUILDHALL ROCKS
And finally, as The Capitalist reported before Christmas, Guildhall will host the first rock concert in its 600-year history this year, and it’s happening tonight. Bryan Adams is set to play a gig that aims to raise £200,000 for Coram, the UK’s first kids’ charity. It might, however, be a bit late to blag tickets.