NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - Embattled media and entertainment giant News Corp. (NWS, NWSA) said to be considering Chase Carey, deputy chairman, president and COO, for the top post of CEO to succeed media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, according to Bloomberg on Monday. However, Murdoch would reportedly continues as the chairman.
The decision to promote Carey is expected to be taken after Murdoch's testimony before the British parliament. The anticipated move follows the reported concern among News Corp's board members and executives about Murdoch's ability to stem the fallout from the phone-hacking scandal in the U.K.
The scandal has already seen the resignation of two top executives and few other related resignations, including Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and his deputy. Also, Sean Hoare, a former News of the World journalist was found dead earlier today.
The company's top publishing executive in the U.K., Rebekah Brooks, who was News International chief executive, resigned on Friday. She was later arrested on Sunday and released on bail. Hours later, Dow Jones & Co. CEO Les Hinton also resigned.
This scandal also forced News Corp. to withdraw its bid to acquire the remaining 60.1 percent stake in satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc (BSYBY.PK, BSY.L) it does already not own.
Murdoch, his son James Murdoch, who leads the international operations, and Brooks will appear before the Select Committee in Parliament on July 19 to give evidence on developments relating to the hacking, following up on an earlier report by its predecessor committee.
Murdoch, an Australian American media mogul, founded News Corp. in 1979 as a holding company for News Ltd. and has been its CEO since then and Chairman of the Board since 1991.
Meanwhile, Carey returned to News Corp for a second stint in 2009 and took over his current positions, effective July 1 2009. He left News Corp in 2003 to be the CEO of DIRECTV Group after spending 15 years as a senior executive at the company.
Prior to leaving for DIRECTV, Carey served as co-COO of News Corp from 1996 to 2002, as well as co-COO of the Fox Entertainment Group from 1998 to 2002. He also served as director a of News Corp from 1996 until 2007 and a director of the Fox Entertainment Group from 1992 until 2002.
Carey initially joined Fox in 1988 and served in numerous roles, including executive vice president and COO of Fox, Inc. and chairman and CEO of the Fox Television Group. He also served as a director, president and CEO of Sky Global Networks. Prior to Joining News Corp. he was employed at Columbia Pictures in senior capacities from 1981 to 1987.
During his first stint at News Corp, Carey led the launch and growth of Fox Sports, and the expansion of the Fox Television Stations group to 35 stations from seven stations. He was also instrumental to the emergence of Fox cable channels such as Fox News Channel, FX and the National Geographic Channel, as well as the building of satellite platforms in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
NWS closed Monday's regular trading session at $15.40, down $0.69 or 4.29 percent on a volume of 11.80 million shares.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2011 AFX News