Rebekah Brooks to head Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp as CEO? Know everything about phone hacking scandal

Rebekah Brooks, who is currently News UK CEO is set for her new innings. She is reportedly going to take over as the CEO of News Corp. With this, Brooks will take on the Murdoch empire however, it is only going to happen after the merger of Fox Corps and News Corps. Lachlan Murdoch is the CEO of Fox Corporation. The merger proposal was insisted by Rupert Murdoch. However, it is pertinent to note that as per media reports not all the shareholders are on board. Current CEO of News Corp, Robert Thomson, is expected to step down from his position, as per several media reports. 

After News Internations was accused of hacking phones and paying off police to obtain information about celebrities, British royal family and politicians, Brooks resigned in 2011. After the controversy and the 2013 split, the print business was put under News Corp while the TV and entertainment were put under 21st Century Fox. The controversy almost took down other Murdoch publications that were owned by News Corp, the organisation she would reportedly be heading over now. Following the scandal, Fox and News Corp split in 2013. Later, in 2015, Brooks joined as CEO of News UK, under Murdoch. 

Last year, News Corp in a press release said that the Murdoch companies have formed a special committee which comprises of “independent and disinterested members of the board” to moot over a possible merger of the two business arms. The current CEO Robert Thompson also confirmed the same to the firms’s employees. 

According to the source quoted by media outlets, merging Fox and News Corp would offer the merged firms more size to compete and will also complement each others’ assets. The merged businesses’ annual sales would be over $24 billion.