Two top senior executives at News Corp. resigned on Friday. Les Hinton, CEO of Dow Jones & Co., resigned in a letter to News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch just hours after Rebekah Brooks, the embattled chief of News International, stepped down.
Hinton, who also serves as publisher of the Wall Street Journal and is a 52-year veteran of the company, sent out a memo to his staff calling it a "deeply, deeply sad day."
Hinton has come under great scrutiny of late because of his possible complicity in the phone hacking scandal enveloping News Corp. Hinton was chairman of News International, News Corp.'s British publishing arm and the division that oversaw the now-shuttered tabloid News of the World, from 1997 to 2005 -- while much of the hacking and alleged bribery took place.
His resignation came the same day as that of Rebekah Brooks, his successor at News International and herself a former World editor.
In his resignation letter to Murdoch, Hinton said he was not aware of wrongdoing at News of the World beyond what was discovered in an investigation under his purview in 2007. Hinton testified in front of the English
Parliament's Culture Media and Sports Select Committee that only one man -- former royals editor Clive Goodman -- had engaged in hacking.
Subsequent revelations have revealed those comments to be false and have raised suspicion that editors and potentially even News Corp. executives were aware of the nefarious activities.
"That I was ignorant of what apparently happened is irrelevant, and in the circumstances I feel it is proper for me to resign from News Corp, and apologize to those hurt by the actions of the News of the World."
The scandal that has raged for nearly two weeks continues to scale the News Corp. hierarchy, with the latest resignations uncomfortably close to the CEO suite. Both Brooks and Hinton are close friends and advisers of the elder Murdoch.
The company issued a statement by Murdoch that accompanied the news:
"Les and I have been on a remarkable journey together for more than 52 years. That this passage has come to an unexpected end, professionally, not personally, is a matter of much sadness to me,” commented Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO of News Corporation.
“On this difficult day we should appreciate that his extraordinary work has provided a platform for the future success of Dow Jones. And his great contribution to News Corporation over more than five decades has enhanced innumerable lives, whether those of employees hired by him or of readers better informed because of him. News Corporation is not Rupert Murdoch. It is the collective creativity and effort of many thousands of people around the world, and few individuals have given more to this Company than Les Hinton."
Dow Jones President Todd Larsen will replace Hinton and report to news Corp.
