Technology company NDS Group — which specializes in video software and content security — has floated in and around Rupert Murdoch’s world since 1988 when it began as a joint venture with News Corp. Now the media giant owns 49% – which should make it a big winner from Cisco’s announcement today that it plans to pay $4B for NDS, and assume about $1B in debt. Bernstein Research analyst Todd Juenger says that News Corp carries the NDS stake on its books for about $440M. After you subtract that from the company’s share of Cisco’s payment, and account for taxes, then News Corp should wind up with about a $1B profit. COO Chase Carey has said that he’d like to either buy or sell entities that News Corp just partly owns. Wells Fargo Securities analyst Marci Ryvicker says that the deal provides Murdoch, whose company had $9.4B in cash at year end, with ”more cash which can be put toward shareholder returns.” Cisco expects its deal to close in the second half of this year, after it’s reviewed by antitrust officials. It will increase Cisco’s clout in the set-top box business: NDS provides security software for DirecTV — and about a third of its revenues come from companies that Murdoch controls including BSkyB and Sky Italia. News Corp shares are up 1.2% in mid-day trading.