News Corp said Wednesday that James Murdoch has stepped down as executive chairman of News International, the Rupert Murdoch-owned company's troubled British publishing unit. 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.
The New York-based media-entertainment giant said James Murdoch was stepping down from News International following his relocation to company headquarters in New York as deputy chief operating officer. "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," Rupert Murdoch, James' father and the chairman and chief executive of News Corp, said in a statement.
"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," Rupert Murdoch said. "He has demonstrated leadership and continues to create great value at Star TV, Sky Deutschland, Sky Italia, and BSkyB."