"Auntie" buys Lonely Planet

This isn't really a business media story, but it caught my eye and it's a holiday here today anyway, so travel-related tales are de rigeur. There are few organisations in the world associated with the staid establishment than the BBC. There are few publishers which have captured counter-culture chic and made scads of money out of it than Lonely Planet.

So, imagine our surprise to see that BBC Worldwide has bought 75% of the offbeat guidebooks company from founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler. The Asian twist here is that the company is headquartered in Melbourne.