Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has resigned as a director of a number of News Corp. boards overseeing his Britain newspapers, a spokeswoman confirmed Saturday. He also quit from some of the media company’s subsidiary boards in the United States.

News International sought to play down the significance of the resignations, saying in a statement that “this is nothing more than a corporate housecleaning exercise prior to the company split”… Saturday’s announcement suggests that Murdoch may be distancing himself from his British newspaper interests, which have been shaken to the core by a widespread phone hacking scandal.

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