News Corp confirms plan to split News Corp's 60-year heritage of developing world-class media brands has resulted in a large and unparalleled portfolio of diversified assets. We recognise that over the years, News Corp's broad collection of assets has become increasingly complex. The media giant, which Mr Murdoch has grown from a single regional newspaper in his native Australia, said the separation would "simplify operations" and allow each unit to "focus on and pursue distinct strategic priorities and industry-specific opportunities that would maximise their long-term potential." News Corp said the new publishing company would "create a scaled publishing platform that would be one of the best capitalised in the industry," allowing it to "leverage its trusted brands...across all traditional and digital platforms." In the UK, News International's chief executive Tom Mockridge said in a memo to staff that the changes would be "very positive" for the newspaper group, whose reputation has been savaged by the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World. News Corp's publishing division, whose growth has been hindered by tough media market conditions and costs related to the hacking scandal, contributes just a tenth of the overall group's operating profits. Meanwhile the entertainment arm, which will be by far the bigger of the two operations, will "build on its deep heritage in developing incredibly strong, premium content for distribution on screens of all sizes," the company said. The split will also put a clearer separation between the group's 39pc stake in broadcasting giant BSkyB and the embattled UK newspaper arm News International, which has been the focus of the phone hacking scandal that led to the closure of News Corp's News of the World tabloid paper. In London, BSkyB shares rose 3 to 684.5p amid market speculation that the split will raise the possibility of News Corp reviving its plans to take full control of the pay-TV operator. News Corp had to scrap its first attempt to buy the remaining stake of BSkyB in the wake of the phone hacking scandal. A report by the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee claimed that Rupert Murdoch was "not a fit person" to run an international company, raising doubts about whether News Corp could get a BSkyB takeover past Ofcom. The regulator has the power to revoke the broadcasting licence of any broadcaster it does not deem "fit and proper." The split does not distance BSkyB from Mr Murdoch, but it has has the potential to effectively quarantine the scandal-hit papers from the rest of the group, paving the way for a renewed bid.