. >>> rupert murdoch's skegz succession plan moves forward. sons jamesand are new promotions at news corp., but miss out on the top spot at fox. are investors nervous king won't be able to replicate the success of candy crush? >>> and russia is no super power. president obama criticizes the country as merely a regional power that intim dates neighboring countries. this as he touches down in brussels for more talks with the eu. display you're watching "worldwide exchange," bringing you business news from around the globe. >>> a very good morning to you. we've seen equities move higher and indicated higher again for the open in the states this morning, as well. the dow up 112 points yesterday, consumer confidence up to six-year highs. we saw house prices, fairley solid gains, although home sales down to five-month lows. this morning, the s&p 500 is around, what, four or five points above fair value. the nasdaq is some 12 points above fair value. and the dow up 112 points. this morning, futures are indicating we've got to move higher by around 49 points abo

his one son coming back in, and james overseeing the tv operations, and it allows us to ask these questions about who will ultimately be the successor of rupert murdochis mean that james has essentially emerged unscathed from the phone hacking issue, and how are these two brothers different? >> they are definitely different. the older may be more from the gut, like his dad. he has got tattoos, and james may be more analytical, but they are both good. you are right, that the phone hacking situation was not the best for james, but overseeing the tv operations, that is the big profit generator for fox. it is well over 50% of the operating profit, so i think that if you look at the things he is trying to do with building their satellite network around the world, he has a big opportunity in this expanded role to really show what he can do on top of what he has already shown, and i think you have got lachlan, who from a 30,000 foot view is able to weigh in on a lot of stuff, so the board can make some good decisions about who it thinks would be a good successor. >> with murdoch putting his sons in big positions, how does that compare with another big media

the arm thatfox, does the movies, named james murdoch co-chief operating officer of that division.e are seeing changes at the top. we will bring you price reaction. that thement, we know nonexecutive cochairman of news corp. and we will bring you much more on that and the repercussions. chlanin murdoch -- la resigning from that and they had to appoint a new ceo. it is all linked. move isstock on the lloyds banking group. for more on lloyds, i am joined by a manus cranny. this is a profit for the government. >> it is. look at that stock price. down over five percent. it is a profit. look at that. they had to discount the price. they got the institutions to come in and did. -- and bid. pence.d at 75.5 we use ate price bloomberg is 61 pence because lloyds paid for insurance on their tactic assets -- on their toxic assets. we know a profit which that george osborne is going to use to pay down part of the national debt here in the u.k. >> thank you so much. what does it mean for the future? we talked about the government, but does it mean we will have more of these kinds of disposals? t

he said he would not work for james murdoch, two executives that i've spoken to.hink he has any more interest in doing so with whoe -- lachlan, somebody has not proven to wall street or investors back home that he has the magic touch that his father has shown that times. >> what we know about his character as an individual and, more importantly, his abilities as a businessman? >> he is seen as somewhat warmer come a friendlier than his brother -- he is seen as a somewhat warmer, friendlier touch than his brother. if you told me james was coming to be a management -- investments ine radio and television. he has not had a great run commercially. he has done something -- some things digitally that will -- some say will pan out. this split was designed to appeal to lachlan, to say, look, it is australian-based. he turned it down. i guess a year later, it seems as though he wants to be back at the head of the table. >> he tried to get out and they pulled him back in. thank you so much, reading the tea leaves of the murdoch empire. >> when we come back, richard branson

meanwhile, james murdoch, embroiled in that phone hacking scandal, will become the co-chief officer of is here with more on what it means for the future of the murdoch media empire. well, what does it mean? nonexecutive cochairman? that mean, exactly? it means he is keeping it all in the family. a family run business. he has always wanted to get them more involved in the business. that the worthy aspect of it is that laughlin left the company a few years ago. he had a falling out with his dad. finally he convinced him to come back in a more specified, more defined role. he is back in contention to potentially run the company one day. >> the other son? >> he is also in contention as well. you know, there is a bit of king lear going on. >> like i said, it is not easy to be one of his sons. interesting that he is still keeping the family intact. that it will be his family members that succeed him. >> and he has said that publicly. he has always wanted his children to succeed him and he has always been patriarchal he focused. left out of this right now is his daughter, elizabeth. he actual

james murdoch was elevated as a position as a cochief operating officer. my dad didn't start diddley, you know? here i am. >> and you've done it on your own. >> weeks old. people -- you know, i'm really trying to milk this thing, you know? >> i know, i know. i give you credit for that. >> let's talk about a new senate report that says target corporation missed multiple opportunities to thwart hackers responsible for the holiday shopping season data breach. the reports from the commerce, science and transportation committee says there was no indication that the retail giant responded to warnings now being installed. the panel is holding a hearing on how to protect information from cyber attack. one of the witnesses will be john mulligan. this probably was prompted by a story that was out a couple of weeks ago. there was an investigative report, and i forget which one of the newspapers did it. >> business week. >> it was an investigative report that took a look at this. they had installed a top of the line security that sent off alarms when somebody was tryi

james was the presumed favorite until the hacking scandal. >> in the summer 2011 the hacking and corruption scandal at murdoch's british tabloids really exploded at least for the short around medium term what seemed to be a clear path james had towards seceding his father adopp this enormous media empire. he had this opportunity really because lachlan walked away voluntarily in 2005. lachlan had been tired of the in-fighting, he felt he would been sandbagged by the president of news corp. and by fox news chairman roger als who remains at the company. this is i think an opportunity for lachlan to prove himself. i think in 2005 rupert concluded his elder son didn't have what it took, was a little soft and hadn't proved himself when swimming in the deep end but now this is the time for lachlan, james somewhat sidelined to prove himself once again. it's the great opportunity but not a guarantee that lachlan will be in that final post. >> brian, they do have a deep bench at both divisions there, and then a lot of high powered executives. a lot of very strong personalities. do you sense there would be an emptying of

>> this has been long suspected that rupered murdoch would make this of play. i want to talk about jamesthe younger brother. what interesting here, is that you know, he is going to take on very much the tv side of the business. he has a direct responsibility over fox networks. he has a great deal to do with what fox is doing in the states. this is about bringing the family really, really back to the control center. a great deal of criticism has been lobbied at rupert murdoch senior in terms of having too much power and control. now they have two siblings. let's see how this goes on. >> we have this potential family feud. we don't know. you never know what ghosn side families. thank you. >> time for a bloomberg exclusive. nown as the richard branson of russia. ryan chilcote spoke with him about the situation in ukraine. take a listen. >> there are a lot of crisis in russia. we stopped counting them in this country. >> the sanctions that we have seen so far against russia. >> i'm a businessman. as you said, i'm one of the few who is really not in politics. it is really -- not any part of t

rupert murdoch, laying out a succession plan, putting his sons in top spots at his global media empire. his younger son, jamesf 20th century fox. these brothers were already directors of both companies. htc,ng on a new phone at the chinese company is introducing a new version of its one smartphone. it has a smaller screen and other features that hopefully attract early adopters. rules that bitcoin his property, not currency, meaning that the same rules will apply to it that apply to stocks with barter transactions. more than one year, they would pay the lowest tax rate under this ruling. that is today's company news. >> a huge deal. >> the irs finally makes an announcement on it and it takes effect immediately as well. >> a huge decision. >> the government is effectively saying that they will make it so difficult to transact in bitcoin. >> it has been a rolling debate. back and forth, back and forth. matt miller's coin series was really eye-opening. >> think about how it has changed. back then it seemed like -- wow, this might to fill the promise. >> i learned from matt miller's effort. reporter at newsweek t

murdoch is putting his son to succeed him as the head of his media empire. ashas named his oldest son the nonexecutive chairman of news corp. and 21st century fox. embroiledr son james, in the phone hacking scandal, will become co-chief operating officer. twitter has filed in turkey to have the six-day ban lifted. of refusingaccused to comply with court orders to remove posts about government corruption. twitter said it never received those orders. it is a war of words between michael arrington and google. he is certain google accessed his gmail account after he broke a major story on the company a few years ago. who will denies the allegation. "we have never done this and it is hard to imagine circumstances where we would investigate a leak in that way." sure is a crushed down about 10%. crushed downcandy about 10%. >> is jpmorgan the lead underwriter on this deal weak and not able to support the price of the market? we did talk to the ceo of .ing digital he commented on the price this morning. take a listen. >> my focus is not on the price. is long-termynergy and by focusing on the long-term would create shareholder value. that is what we have been doing. right no

murdoch laid out his succession plan. his son who left the father's namedy nine years ago was as nonexecutive cochairman of news corp. and 21st century fox will stop his younger brother jamesbecome co-ceo of 21st century fox. that is a look at the top stories in the news at this hour. in washington, lawmakers are taking another look at the data breach at target. 40 million credit card numbers were compromised last year. the hearing is the first since the company admitted to learning of suspicious activity a month earlier than let on. this after a report from bloomberg with -- bloomberg business week ignored warnings from his hacker detection tools. what have we heard so far? >> apologies on behalf of of target. john mulligan, the chain's cfo admitted to lawmakers that target had clues about the attacks we are responding and is trying to figure out why it took so long to react. he said target is asking hard questions. we are focused on what information we had that could have alerted us to the preacher earlier. whether we had the right personnel in the right positions. ensuring decisions related to operational and security matters were sound. we are working quickly to answer