News Corp. confirmed Monday morning that Robert Thomson, Dow Jones editor-in-chief and managing editor of The Wall Street Journal since 2008, will become the CEO of the new publishing entity that News Corp. is spinning off from its entertainment assets next year. The new company will retain the News Corp. name (the entertainment company is being renamed Fox Group), and will include HarperCollins, all newspaper assets, its new education company plus some Australian broadcasting businesses.
Rupert Murdoch will serve as chairman of the new News Corporation and chairman and CEO of Fox Group. “Under Robert’s leadership at News Corporation, we will build on our traditional mission to inform, entertain and enhance the lives of readers and viewers around the world, and relentlessly drive global growth by promoting excellence and investing in our businesses,” Murdoch said in a statement.
Thomson will assume his new CEO duties January 1. Other appointments to the News management team included Bedi Ajay Singh, who most recently served as president, finance and administration & CFO for MGM Studios, who will assume the role of Chief Financial Officer. Paul Cheesbrough, currently News Corporation’s chief technology officer, will serve in the same capacity for the new publishing company. Keisha Smith will serve as director of human relations. She previously served in various management roles at Morgan Stanley, most recently as the global head of recruiting and chief diversity officer for the firm. In addition, Gerson Zweifach, currently general counsel of News Corporation, will serve in a dual role as both general counsel of Fox Group, and, for a period of one year following the separation, also of the new News Corp.
Amid some general restructuring announcements, News Corp. said that effective December 15, it is ending the standalone publication of The Daily iPad app, though the brand will live on in other channels and that its technology and other assets, including some staff, will be folded into The New York Post.
