James Murdoch stepped down yesterday as executive chairman of News International, News Corp.’s scandal-plagued British newspaper unit.
James Murdoch, 39, will remain News Corp.’s deputy chief operating officer and focus on international television operations, the New York-based media and entertainment giant said in a statement.
News International has been embroiled in a phone-hacking scandal which has seen the arrests of several former top editors and the abrupt closure last year of the News of the World.
A public inquiry into press standards heard from a top police officer Monday that journalists at another News International paper, The Sun, had made cash payments to a “network of corrupted officials.”
James Murdoch has long been seen as the heir apparent to his father Rupert Murdoch but the elder Murdoch was accompanied by another son, Lachlan, on a recent visit to The Sun, during which plans were announced to launch a Sunday edition of the tabloid.
News Corp. said James Murdoch was stepping down from News International following his relocation to company headquarters in New York as deputy chief operating officer, a move which took place last year.