LONDON, (Reuters) – Rebekah Brooks resigned as chief executive of News Corp’s British newspaper unit on Friday, yielding to political and investor pressure over a phone hacking scandal undermining Rupert Murdoch’s media empire on both sides of the Atlantic.
The 43-year-old Brooks, a former editor of the scandal-hit News of the World newspaper and of the flagship tabloid the Sun, was a close confidante of Murdoch, who had signalled her importance to him when he flew into London to manage the crisis at the News International subsidiary.
The public disgust that erupted over reports that one of News Corp’s newspapers had hacked into the voicemails of murder victims has so far forced Murdoch to shut down the News of the World and pull a $12-billion bid to buy the shares he does not own in British satellite broadcaster BSkyB .
Murdoch, 80, long courted by Britain’s political elite, faces a showdown with parliament on Tuesday when lawmakers on the media committee grill him, his son James, 38, as well as Brooks to find out more about the phone hacking practices.
Tom Mockridge, CEO of the company’s Italian pay TV arm Sky Italia, will replace Brooks, who spent more than two decades at the newspaper company. Analysts may welcome the New Zealander’s background in television, an area in which News Corp is keen to expand, as well as his lack of direct involvement in the scandal-hit British newspaper business during the past decade.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, as well as his Labour opponents, had said Brooks should have quit. Cameron said last week that an initial offer by her to resign should have been accepted. Yesterday, an influential Saudi investor in News Corp said he agreed.
Brooks, whose youth, mane of red hair and sharp tongue have helped give her a high public profile in Britain, said in a message to staff: “My desire to remain on the bridge has made me a focal point of the debate. This is now detracting attention from all our honest endeavours to fix the problems of the past.
“Therefore I have given Rupert and James Murdoch my resignation. While it has been a subject of discussion, this time my resignation has been accepted.”
A week ago, she had told News of the World staff, who were sacked with the paper’s closure, that she would remain — causing anger among many of the 200 being laid off. Some accused Murdoch of sacrificing their jobs to save hers.