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Rupert Murdoch quits NI boards fuelling sell-off rumour

News Corporation played down the significance of the resignations as nothing more than a corporate housecleaning exercise prior to the company split.

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Rupert Murdoch quits NI boards fuelling sell-off rumour
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Rupert Murdoch has resigned as a director of companies behind The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times, fuelling expectations that he is preparing to sell his News International newspaper group.

Companies House filings show that Murdoch stepped down from the boards of the NI Group, Times Newspaper Holdings and News Corp Investments in the UK last week. He also quit a number of News Corp's US boards, the details of which have yet to be disclosed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

News Corporation played down the significance of the resignations as nothing more than a corporate housecleaning exercise prior to the company split.

The media giant took a similar line when James Murdoch resigned a string of directorships at News International last November, pouring cold water on suggestions that he was walking away from the UK newspaper arm. He quit as chairman three months later.

News Corporation has already said it will split into two separately listed companies, separating newspapers and book publishing from television and film assets. Murdoch has repeatedly insisted that he remains committed to the UK newspaper business. He vowed at the time of the announcement to remain a very active chairman of the publishing business. But his surprise resignation of directorships on both sides of the Atlantic has raised expectations that he is gearing up to sever all ties with the company.

Splitting News Corp would also put some much-needed distance between its film and television assets and the newspaper business, whose reputation is threatening the whole News Corp empire.

Claire Enders at Enders Analysis said Murdoch's resignations were part of the "slow fade of Rupert and James from the UK" that will be complete and permanent. "The grip of the Murdochs, finger by finger, has been loosened and it's not in order to return triumphantly," she said.

 

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