In his brief resignation letter, James Murdoch said he was leaving the company because of “disagreements over certain editorial content published” by his media and “certain other strategic decisions.”
A spokesman for James Murdoch said there would be no further immediate comment and that the letter spoke for itself.
In a joint statement, Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch said, “We are grateful to James for his many years of service to the company. We wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
James Murdoch, whose older brother Lachlan Murdoch serves as head of the Fox Corporation, had already left part of the media empire, due to his displeasure at Fox News. The young Murdoch has also previously expressed his disagreement with his father’s conservative political views.
But he had remained on the News Corp board, something that had puzzled family friends. His resignation on Friday from News Corp represents the growing distance he has placed between his brother and father’s media businesses.
While he is no longer on the boards of family businesses, he is nevertheless still connected to the empire through the Murdoch Family Trust, which holds key voting shares in both companies.
The News Corp umbrella includes articles like The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post. It also includes the HarperCollins book publisher.
News Corp also owns a large part of Australia’s media, which were criticized earlier this year for its coverage of climate change in relation to the recent wildfires that spread across the country.
A spokesman for James Murdoch said in January that he and his wife, Kathryn Murdoch, had “well-established” views on climate change and were “particularly disappointed with the ongoing denial among the media in Australia due to the evidence evident otherwise. “
This is a developing story …
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