Rupert Murdoch's News Corp expects to hang onto BSkyB stake as profits jump "We have no expectation to sell the Sky stake at this time," said Mr Carey, who is seen on Wall Street as the most likely successor to Mr Murdoch. Our interest is in being a shareholder that helps the business [BSkyB] reach its potential. The executive's defence of his 81-year-old boss came as News Corp reported a better-than-expected 47pc jump in profits to $937m in the first three months of the year. The company's US TV networks, which include the Fox News channel, again proved the biggest driver of profits during the quarter. Although News Corp owns The Times and The Sun newspapers in Britain, as well as the Fox Studio in Hollywood, it derives more than 60pc of its profits from its US television business. The quarter also saw overall revenues edge 1.8pc higher to $8.4bn. News Corp has been battling to contain the fallout from the phone-hacking crisis, and last summer introduced a $5bn share buyback plan. On Wednesday night the company doubled that to $10bn. Shares in the company, in which Mr Murdoch controls about 40pc of the voting rights, jumped almost 5pc in extended trading in New York. The move also allays fears on Wall Street that Mr Murdoch could use News Corp's cash pile to make another major acquisition. While News Corp's TV network business enjoyed a strong quarter, revenues at its publishing business, which includes the British newspapers, fell 2.8pc to $2.03bn. Mr Carey acknowledged that shareholders would like to see News Corp sell its newspapers but insisted that the plan is to improve their financial performance. The company said that it had spent another $63m on ongoing investigations following the closure of News of The World last summer. That is on top of a $125m charge already taken by News Corp to close News of The World and make settlements.