12.38pm: Here is News Corp's announcement in full: News Corporation today announced that it intends to pursue the separation of its publishing and media and entertainment businesses into two distinct publicly traded companies. Upon closing of such a transaction, shareholders would hold interests in a world-class publishing company, consisting of the largest collection of best-in-class publishing assets and a new digital education group, and an unmatched global media and entertainment company, each of which would benefit from enhanced strategic alignment and increased operational flexibility with respect to an unparalleled portfolio of assets, brands and franchises. News Corporation's board authorised management to explore this separation after a board meeting yesterday. The proposed transaction would create global category leaders in both publishing and entertainment: a publishing company, which would be comprised of News Corporation's newspapers and information businesses in the US, UK and Australia, the company's leading book publishing brands, its integrated marketing services company, its digital education group, as well as its other assets in Australia; and a global media and entertainment company, which would encompass News Corporation's broadcast and worldwide cable networks, leading film and television production studios, television stations and highly successful pay-TV businesses in Europe and India. "There is much work to be done, but our board and I believe that this new corporate structure we are pursuing would accelerate News Corporation's businesses to grow to new heights, and enable each company and its divisions to recognise their full potential - and unlock even greater long-term shareholder value," said Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO of News Corporation. News Corporation'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 Corporation's broad collection of assets have become increasingly complex. We determined that creating this new structure would simplify operations and greater align strategic priorities, enabling each company to better deliver on our commitments to consumers across the globe. I am 100% committed to the future of both the publishing and media and entertainment businesses and, if the board ultimately approves a separation, I would serve as chairman of both companies. News Corporation believes that a separation of the businesses into distinct public corporations with their own identities and strategies would enhance overall shareholder value and allow each company to: Focus on and pursue distinct strategic priorities and industry-specific opportunities that would maximize their long-term potential. • Benefit from greater financial and operational flexibility and better position each company to compete. • Respond and react more quickly to rapidly-evolving technology and global market opportunities. • Tailor its capital structure, and allocate and deploy resources in a manner consistent with its strategic objectives that best enhances value for its respective shareholder group. With more focus devoted to each business' financial and operational structure, investors would be able to more clearly evaluate the inherent value of both portfolios of assets and invest in each company accordingly. The new global media and entertainment company that would be created through the proposed transaction would consist of News Corporation's highly-profitable cable and television assets, filmed entertainment, and direct satellite broadcasting businesses, including Fox Broadcasting, 20th Century Fox Film, 20th Century Fox Television, Fox Sports, Fox International Channels, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, FX, Star, the National Geographic Channels, Shine Group, Fox Television Stations, BSkyB, Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland, among others. As a pure-play content producer and distributor, the Company would build on its deep heritage in developing incredibly strong, premium content for distribution on screens of all sizes by leveraging its leading content across its entertainment and cable news verticals, as well as its unparalleled collection of regional sports networks, and the industry's leading movie and TV production and distribution company. In addition, the entertainment company would benefit from its rapidly growing, high-margin cable network and pay-TV assets, and the distribution capabilities and opportunities associated with its unrivaled global footprint with significant scale across North and South America, Europe and Asia. The new global publishing company that would be created through the proposed transaction would consist of News Corporation's current publishing businesses, as well as its book publishing, education and integrated marketing services divisions. The new publishing company would create a scaled publishing platform that would be one of the best capitalized in the industry. The publishing company would have the opportunity to leverage its trusted brands for innovation and value creation across all traditional and digital platforms. The publishing company would incorporate some of the world's most successful print, digital and information services brands including Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswires, HarperCollins, the New York Post, and the Daily, as well as offer the rich diversity of assets in Australia, including leading brands such as the Australian, the Herald Sun, the Daily Telegraph and the Courier Mail. In addition, the company would include the Times, the Sun, the Sunday Times, as well as News Corporation's integrated marketing services group and its ground-breaking digital education group, including Wireless Generation. With a balanced portfolio of stable and growing news publishing brands and other assets, shareholders would benefit from strong and consistent free cash flow generated by these businesses, over multiple platforms. Upon closing of the proposed transaction, News Corporation's shareholders would receive one share of common stock in the new company for each same class News Corporation share currently held. Following the separation, each company would maintain two classes of common stock: class A common and class B common Voting Shares. Upon closing of the proposed transaction, Rupert Murdoch would serve as chairman of both companies and CEO of the media and entertainment company. Chase Carey would serve as president and COO of the media and entertainment company. Over the next several months, the company will assemble management teams and boards of directors for both businesses. The separation is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months. Management is developing detailed plans for the board's further consideration and final approval. To execute the transaction requires further work on structure, management, governance, and other significant matters. After receiving final approval of the board of directors, News Corporation will convene a special shareholder meeting to consider the transaction. This meeting is not expected to take place until the first half of calendar 2013. During the closing process, News Corporation will remain focused on delivering the best possible results for the benefit of its consumers, customers and shareholders. In addition to shareholder approval, the completion of the separation will also be subject to receipt of regulatory approvals, opinions from tax counsel and favorable rulings from certain tax jurisdictions regarding the tax-free nature of the transaction to the company and to its shareholders, further due diligence as appropriate, and the filing and effectiveness of appropriate filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The company will provide interim updates as appropriate. There can be no assurances given that the separation of the company's businesses as described in this announcement will occur. 12.37pm: Rupert Murdoch will be chairman of both the publishing and entertainment companies, but only chief executive of the entertainment business. News Corp has not announced a chief executive for its publishing assets, which include the the Sun, Times and Sunday Times. The separation is expected to take 12 months to complete. 12.35pm: News Corporation has confirmed that it is to split its publishing business from its TV and film business. More news as we get it... 12.16pm BST (07.16am ET): Three banks have been hired to advise News Corp on the restructuring, with the possibility of a fourth bank in the shape of Murdoch's long-time adviser Allen & Co, the Guardian's Lisa O'Carroll reports. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Centerview Partners have been hired to advise the media conglomerate, a person familiar with the matter told Fox News. Fox News business service reports: News Corp already has a longstanding relationship with bankers affiliated with the firms. Centerview banker Blair Effron advised News Corp on its takeover of Dow Jones & Co in 2007, as did JP Morgan media banker Jimmy Lee. News Corp owns Dow Jones, publisher of this newswire and the Wall Street Journal. The advisers will have responsibility for guiding News Corp through a potentially complex separation process, which will include determining how to manage the company's current $10bn share buyback programme and how to divide its considerable balance sheet and other global assets. It wasn't clear if boutique investment bank Allen & Co, a long-time adviser to News Corp, would play a role in any separation. Allen & Co banker Stanley Shuman is a director emeritus on the News Corp board. Representatives for Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Centerview didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokeswoman for Allen & Co declined to comment. 12.08pm BST (07.08am ET): Murdoch's Wall Street Journal published some detail last night about the likely makeup of News Corp's two separate companies. The entire process of spinning off its publishing assets is expected to take about a year, the WSJ reported. Key details, including who will run the publishing business, were yet to be finalised after a board meeting at News Corp's headquarters in New York on Wednesday evening, according to the paper. 12.03pm BST (07.03am ET): Rupert Murdoch is shortly expected to announce the historic split of his global media group into two separate companies. The News Corporation chairman is likely to announce that his publishing assets - which include the newspaper company behind the Sun, Times and Sunday Times - will be spun off from his TV and film business, which includes the Fox movie studio and its 39.1% stake in BSkyB. The move will be the biggest corporate upheaval at News Corp since Murdoch founded the firm in 1979. Earlier on Thursday, the chief executive of Murdoch's UK newspaper group told staff in London that the new will be "very positive" for the Sun, Times and Sunday Times. News Corp is expected to announce the plans early on Thursday in New York, meaning around lunchtime in the UK. Murdoch will give an exclusive interview to Fox Business at 10am eastern standard time - 3pm UK time - which we will cover live here, along with all major developments as News Corp is formally split in two.