4. Give Lachlan the new TV network, too.

Ailes will pop a blood vessel when you take it away, but the move makes sense for the business. And it will send an important signal to Lachlan, whose job will be to fully monetize the brand power and content production of Dow Jones across all platforms.  

5.  Make brand decisions based on the future, not the past. 
Do not call it the Fox Business Network.  Nor should you call it, as some suggest, the Wall Street Journal Network. The former is an inferior brand with your targeted viewers, and the latter will have significant limitations as you evolve globally. Call it Dow Jones TV, or DJTV, and use the Wall Street Journal name to brand your smartest programming. Assume that over time you will want the full Wall Street Journal name to evolve into simply the Journal, which will give you much more flexibility around the world and across platforms.

6. Remake Barron's.

Yes, it's profitable right now, but it won't be long until the weekly becomes overwhelmed by the 21st century. More important, you must move quickly to fill the holes in your business-news portfolio. Turn Barron's into a slick weekly magazine with big cover impact. Think of it as a hybrid of BusinessWeek and the New York Post. Launch it by inserting it into the Saturday edition of the Journal for the first year. If that seems too ambitious, then prudently milk it as your predecessors did.

7. Double down.
Buy Pearson and divide the world between the Financial Times and the W.S.J. You might be able to do it for less than $15 billion and then enjoy watching the other side of the Atlantic chatter about your controlling the Economist. If you can't get the deal done, rename the W.S.J.E. the European Economic Journal and push hard to make the F.T. play defense in Europe.

8. Secure leadership through acquisition.

Make it clear to Hizzoner that Bloomberg would be your first choice, and accelerate the courtship as he considers his political options. Bloomberg's huge lead in data would be difficult to replicate, a competitive advantage that should not be underestimated. If he makes it clear that Bloomberg is not available for several years, then move on Thomson. But do it soon, so you can integrate Thomson, Reuters, and Dow Jones all at once, instead of one piece at a time.

9. Cover your global back door.

Make a plan for how you're going to stake out the same kind of business-news dominance in China and the Spanish-speaking world. (Somebody else will have to write those memos.) If you think business news will be big and profitable in the West, then consider how big it will be in China in 2020.

10. Avoid that longevity elixir that Sumner Redstone drinks.
I know you want to live forever, but apparently that stuff induces counterproductive behavior, like sabotaging your legacy by eating your young.

What will all that get you? It won't improve your image much. But it will set your legacy, as you will be the only one to turn the corner on monetizing business-news content.

And that will give Lachlan and James a strong hand when they sit down at the negotiating table with Larry Pages and Sergey Brin 10 or 15 years from now. When that time comes, I hope that I'm still around to write your sons a Rescue Memo of their own and that you're around to make sure they read it.

In the meantime, we should keep this global dominance strategy between you and me. It will be much harder to execute if your competitors get wind of what you're up to.