Courtesy of Benzinga.
Rupert Murdoch’s son James has stepped down from his position of executive chairman, News Corp (NASDAQ: NWSA) announced on Wednesday.
Despite the near-apathy surrounding the announcement, this has to be seen as a blow to the Rupert Murdoch empire, something which has been crumbling since last year’s phone hacking scandal anyway. The departure of his son from a position of prominence is embarrassing, to say the least.
When reading the statement released by Rupert Murdoch, you might not know that he is talking about his son at all. “We are all grateful for James’ leadership at News International and across Europe and Asia, where he has made lasting contributions to the group’s strategy in paid digital content and its efforts to improve and enhance governance programs. He has demonstrated leadership and continues to create great value at Star TV, Sky Deutschland, Sky Italia, and BSkyB. Now that he has moved to New York, James will continue to assume a variety of essential corporate leadership mandates, with particular focus on important pay-TV businesses and broader international operations.”
For his part, James Murdoch said in the same carefully worded statement, “I deeply appreciate the dedication of my many talented colleagues at News International who work tirelessly to inform the public and am confident about the tremendous momentum we have achieved under the leadership of my father and Tom Mockridge. With the successful launch of The Sun on Sunday and new business practices in place across all titles, News International is now in a strong position to build on its successes in the future. As Deputy Chief Operating Officer, I look forward to expanding my commitment to News Corporation’s international television businesses and other key initiatives across the Company.”
The months since the phone hacking scandal have seen News Corp pay out an incredible amount of money in damages to celebrities like soccer star Paul Gascoigne, actor Hugh Grant and comedian Steve Coogan, while the News of the World newspaper has folder and the Sun is still looked upon with disdain.
Murdoch sr. said that James would now focus on the company’s pay-television business, a role which sounds suspiciously like a diplomatic job rather than a genuine position of authority. After all, Christmas would be awkward if Rupert had fired his son.
Accusations and allegations continue to surround the Sun and the now-gone News of the World, so one has to wonder if James Murdoch is best off out of the whole mess, after seemingly carrying the can for his father for a few months.
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