Rebekah Brooks poised for News UK return as digital chief
Controversial former Sun newspaper editor Rebekah Brooks is poised to return to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation as chief of a new digital and video business.
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13:00 01/05/24
The company confirmed that Brooks, a close ally of Murdoch's who was cleared of phone-hacking charges last year, is in talks to return to News UK but not as part of the Sun.
“Discussions with Rebekah Brooks are ongoing, and focused on a potential new digital business for News Corp, but it’s premature to speculate about the details of a position that does not yet exist,” a News Corp spokesperson said in a statement.
Having resigned from News International, the former name of News UK, in 2011, Brooks had been reported earlier on Wednesday as being “lined up to take charge of the Sun’s digital operation and video offering” by Exaro News, who reported that Brooks had met current Sun editor Victoria Newton and TV critic Ally Ross at the company's London Bridge offices.
But the Guardian was later told by an executive at the paper that Brooks "will not be running part of the Sun, nor sitting on the Sun’s floor. That is utter bollocks. People are putting 2+2 together and making 763.”
The Financial Times reported recently that Brooks was to take over as News Corp's Storyful social media news agency.
Other Murdoch ventures have been investing in digital business of late, with Sky last month investing an extra $5m into 1Mainstream, a company it has been using as an on-demand video technology supplier for Sky News and NOW TV over-the-top services.