Murdoch shuffle has ex-Sky exec as News Int CEO
RUPERT Murdoch announced a host of changes at his media empire yesterday, including the hiring of ex-BSkyB chief operating officer Mike Darcey as the new chief executive of UK paper owner News International.
Darcey’s appointment follows the weekend resignation of Tom Mockridge.
Among other changes made were the closure of the iPad-only publication The Daily, and the hiring of Robert Thomson – the editor in chief of Wall Street Journal owner Dow Jones – as the head of the new publishing business Murdoch will create.
The reshuffle came as Murdoch announced the names of the separate firms he will form by splitting News Corp in two. The TV and film business, which comprises Fox and a stake in BSkyB, will be called Fox Group, while the publishing arm – featuring Murdoch’s British, Australian and US papers, and the Penguin book publisher – will retain the News Corporation name.
The split is seen by some as a move to distance the highly-lucrative TV networks from the fallout of the phone hacking scandal. News Corp is expected to reveal the details of the split by the end of the year.