Rupert Murdoch resigns as director of News International

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has stepped down as the director of News International, the company which overlooks the Sun, Times and Sunday Times newspapers. An internal memo confirmed his resignation.

The resignation comes after the June announced that News Corp would be divided into two different companies: a smaller publishing division and much bigger entertainment and TV group.

"I wanted to let you know that Rupert Murdoch has resigned as director of a number of companies, including NI Group Limited, known to most of you as News International, and Times Newspapers Holdings Limited," Tom Mockridge, the head of Murdoch's British newspaper arm, said in the email, seen by Reuters.

"As you may be aware, Rupert resigned from a number of UK boards, including News Group Newspapers and Times Newspapers Limited, some time ago. He has also stepped down from more than a dozen boards of companies with interests in the US, Australia and India."

The decision was taken keeping in mind the imminent restructuring of the companies, said Mockridge.

"He (Murdoch) remains fully committed to our business as chairman of what will become the largest newspaper and digital group in the world."

There is much conjecture that News Corp might sell the British papers after the phone hacking scandal surfaced at the News of World tabloid that left the company’s reputation and image tainted in Britain. The News of World is now defunct.

A spokeswoman for News International said: "Last week Mr Murdoch stepped down from a number of boards, many of them small subsidiary boards, both in the UK and US. This is nothing more than a corporate house-cleaning exercise prior to the company split.” News International is the UK publishing arm of News Corporation, which produces The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times.

No one was available at the British newspaper arm for any further comment.

Murdoch’s resignation is indeed a cause of concern for the world especially the world of entertainment as he is one of the most influential people in the world. According to the 2011 list of Forbes richest Americans, Murdoch is the 38th richest person in the US and the 106th-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $8.3 billion. In May 2012, Forbes ranked him as the 24th most powerful person in the world hence him stepping down from a number of companies would definitely mean something.

News Corp. has been facing a lot of pressure from its stakeholders lately. Last month the company revealed that it will be splitting up in two publicly traded entities focused on publishing and entertainment.

Where the mystery behind these resignations still remains unanswered some rumors have surfaced that Rupert Murdoch is preparing to sell the newspaper group that owns The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times.