Rebekah Brooks to Run Murdoch Media Empire: Report

Rupert Murdoch is not only pushing for a reunion for Fox Corp and News Corp, but he also wants Rebekah Brooks, CEO of the company’s News UK unit, to run everything.

Almost a decade after Murdoch split his vast media empire into two separate and publicly-traded entities, he wants the band back together under Brooks’ leadership, Lachlan Cartwright of the Daily Beast reported Monday. After speaking to people close to the plan, Cartwright reported Brooks will be tapped to run the company:

The top job in the Murdoch media empire will go to Rebekah Brooks, with insiders telling Confider she will take the reins of a remarried News Corp and Fox Corp if and when the much talked-about deal is complete.

Brooks is now positioned to take over for Robert Thomson, the current CEO of News Corp, who is expected to step aside on completion of the merger, people familiar with the matter told Confider.

Cartwright reported the merger is one thing Murdoch, 91, would like to see done as a sort of swan song. It has faced opposition from shareholders since it was first announced.

Brooks gained international notoriety during the News International phone hacking scandal when she was the editor of the now-defunct paper the News of the World. Reporters were alleged to have paid off cops and otherwise wielded the company’s vast resources for scoops.

Investigations also showed the paper hacked into the phones of celebrities and politicians – including the British royal family. Brooks was criminally tried and found not guilty. She resigned in 2011 but rejoined the Murdoch empire in her current role in 2015.

Read Cartwright’s report in its entirety here.