Rupert Murdoch's UK operations have been under intense scrutiny
over phone hacking revelations.
|
STORY
HIGHLIGHTS
- Rupert Murdoch steps down as
director from a string of company boards
- A spokesman calls it "nothing more than a corporate house-cleaning exercise"
- News Corp. is expected to be divided in coming months
(CNN) --
Rupert Murdoch has stepped down from a string of company boards of directors
just one month after his embattled News Corporation announced plans to separate
publishing interests from its lucrative television and film operations.
The
Australian-born media mogul made the move last week, according to a spokesman
for News International, a British arm of News Corp.
While
Murdoch is expected to remain chairman of both companies, he will be CEO of
only the television and film side, further distancing himself from the print
business that first brought him fame and fortune.
It's not
clear who will be CEO of the publishing company, which would be less than
one-third the size of its counterpart.
The News International
spokesman on Saturday played down Murdoch's boards resignation, calling it
"nothing more than a corporate house-cleaning exercise prior to the
company split."
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News Corp.,
a Murdoch-controlled media conglomerate, is expected to be divided in the next
12 months. The split comes after some of its U.K.-based newspapers were thrust
to the center of a recent phone-hacking scandal.
His British
operations have remained under intense scrutiny after revelations of widespread
phone hacking, which included celebrities and public officials, by people
working for his newspapers.
The
controversy prompted News Corp. to shut down its venerable British tabloid,
News of the World, last year, and preceded a decision to withdraw a
multi-billion-dollar bid to take over British Sky Broadcasting.
The coming
split would separate operations like 20th Century Fox film studio, Fox
broadcast network and Fox News Channel from the firm's newspapers holdings such
as Britain's The Sun, the London Times and the London Sunday Times.
News
Corp.'s American media holdings include The Wall Street Journal, the New York
Post and Barron's. Its book publishing assets include such companies as
HarperCollins.
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