Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has resigned from a number of boards linked to his British newspaper titles, it was revealed on Saturday night.
Mr Murdoch, 81, who is chief executive of News Corporation, resigned from News Corp. Investments, News International Group Ltd and Times Newspaper Holdings in the UK.
He has also stepped down from boards in the US, Australia and India. The resignations were described by News International as part of a plan, which was confirmed in June, to split News Corporation into separate newspaper and entertainment operations.
News Corp. will merge its newspaper and publishing businesses into one company and keep its film and television businesses, including 20th Century Fox, in one company.
The publishing company will include the newspaper businesses in Britain and Australia and American newspapers like The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post along with publisher Harper Collins.
Mr Murdoch will serve as chairman of both the companies and CEO of the media and entertainment company and Chase Carey would serve as president and COO of the media and entertainment ompany.
The separation of the businesses is expected to be completed within one year. News International owns The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times. The now-defunct News of The World tabloid, shut down a year ago, was part of the group too.
“Last week, Mr Murdoch stepped down from a number of boards, many of them small subsidiary boards, both in the UK and US. This is nothing more than a corporate house-cleaning exercise prior to the company split,” a News International spokesperson said Saturday night.
However, no details of Mr Murdoch’s resignations from numerous boards across the countries were available. NI boss Tom Mockridge has sent an email to staff which says that Mr Murdoch remains committed to chairing newspaper interests when they are demerged from News Corporation.
The resignations have led to an intense round of speculation in Britain that Mr Murdoch was planning to get rid of his publishing businesses.