News Corp split not driven by hacking scandal Rupert Murdoch will be chairman of both operations, and will remain chief executive of the media and entertainment business, which will house 20th Century Fox, the Fox broadcasting network and News Corp's 39pc stake in BSkyB. Chase Carey will be its president and chief operating officer. The other company will hold all of News Corp's publishing interests, such as The Wall Street Journal, The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, The Australian, The New York Post, Dow Jones newswire and publisher HarperCollins. News Corp did not specify who would lead that unit, but will assemble its management teams over "the next several months." News Corp's board voted unanimously to approve the plan to separate in two and plans to complete the process within a year. Mr Murdoch reminded analysts that he had built News Corp up from a single regional newspaper in his native Australia, but said the "transformative" step to break the company up marked a moment of "great pride for me personally." "We've come a long way, on a journey that began nearly 60 years ago with a single newspaper operation out of Adeleide," he said. No doubt there will be some naysayers who see the announcement as concern about the long-term potential of publishing [at News Corp] but that couldn't be further from the truth. The opportunity is so big, single-minded pursuit is the best approach. Mr Murdoch added in a statement: "There is much work to be done but our board and I believe that this new corporate structure we are pursuing would accelerate News Corp'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 value. The media giant 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." The split does not distance BSkyB from Mr Murdoch, but it has the potential to effectively quarantine the scandal-hit papers from the rest of the group, paving the way for a renewed bid.