News Corp execs think James Murdoch may leave

Peter Lauria Reuters 08/18/2011 08:06

News Corp's senior management is starting to think about what the company might do if James Murdoch stepped aside, sources inside and close to the global media empire said.

With Rupert Murdoch's younger son under increasing pressure from the phone-hacking scandal enveloping the company, News Corp executives want to be prepared if he wants to "take a breather," one News Corp source said.

"The company is still trying to operate as if James isn't going anywhere," said another high-ranking insider. "But everyone is thinking about what will happen if he has to step aside."

Through a representative, Rupert Murdoch and News Corp senior management said it was "absolutely not true" the company was thinking about the possibility that James may step aside.

If James was pressured into leaving News Corp, two of the sources said the departure would not likely be permanent.

"Even if he did step out of the spotlight for a while, that wouldn't necessarily mean he wouldn't come back when things are quieter," said another source who asked not to be named because of a relationship with the family.

James, who is 38, is known for "doing his own thing", one News Corp executive noted. A tattooed, ear-pierced record label owner before becoming the last of Rupert's children to join the company, he now presents the image of a nattily dressed, conservative corporate executive.

"I'm waiting for the moment when he says, 'What the hell am I doing here, I need a breather,'" the source said.

"And I wouldn't be surprised if the people who are speaking to him and watching him aren't wondering if the time has come for him to drop the (corporate) act."