Rupert Murdoch finally decided who would inherit the perilous job of running his probably doomed new publishing company once the News Corp. beast completes it's transformation into a two headed hydra. Unsurprisingly, he went with his best newsman. 

Reuters broke the story that Robert Thomson (the one on the left), the current Wall Street Journal managing editor, will head the publishing side of News Corp. once the company splits into separate publishing and entertainment companies. In the Wall Street Journal's own report on Thomson's appointment, they report the move should be announced officially later this week, and we might even learn what they're going to call the new company.

The move makes enough sense, when you consider that Thompson is the guy responsible for building the Wall Street Journal into a major player on the New York newspaper scene. Thomson was Murdoch's first choice to start a war with The New York Times after the Journal's existing editor resigned shortly after Murdoch purchased the paper in 2007. Thomson was already working for Murdoch's Times of London. He's also an Australian, just like Murdoch, and he wasn't tarnished by the phone-hacking scandal. 

What you're going to want to watch out for over the next few months is whether Thomson pulls the trigger on any of the blockbuster deals that have been rumored for the new publishing company. After Murdoch's last minute attempt to start a bidding war for Penguin Books was foiled, there were reports he was interested in merging News Corp's HarperCollins with Simon & Schuster. There were also rumors he was going to scoop up the L.A. Times and the Chicago Tribune, two newspapers with respected names but that are failing financially. 

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