Murdoch quits UK newspapers’ boards before News Corp split

Media baron Rupert Murdoch has resigned from the boards of a string of companies that oversee his British newspapers The Sun, The Times The Sunday Times, in a move that has come as a precursor to the media giant News Corp's proposed two-way split of its global empire.

Murdoch has stepped down as a director of News International Group, Times Newspaper Holdings and News Corp Investments in the UK, all subsidiaries of News Corp, according to a company spokeswoman.

Last week, Murdoch, the 81-year old founder the world's second-largest media conglomerate, resigned from a number of boards, many of them small subsidiary boards, both in the UK, and US, as well as Australia and India.

The boardroom exits were "nothing more than a corporate housecleaning exercise prior to the company split," the News International spokeswoman said.

Last month, New York-based News Corp with total assets of around $62 billion, revealed its plan to split the company into publishing and media entertainment businesses in order to enhance its strategic alignment and increase its operational flexibility. (See: News Corp confirms two-way split) 

The new global media and entertainment company would comprise News Corp's highly-profitable broadcast and worldwide cable networks, leading film and television studios and stations and its pay-TV businesses in Europe and India including Fox broadcasting, Twentieth Century Fox film and TV and BSkyB among other prominent names.