Les Hinton, the top executive of Rupert Murdoch's Dow Jones & Co, resigned on Friday after becoming a target of criticism for the phone-hacking scandal that occurred when he oversaw News Corp's (NWSA.O) British newspapers. Hinton stepped down as the British phone hacking scandal surrounding News Corp began to spread to the United States. He is the highest ranking executive yet to resign over a crisis that closed down the News of the World tabloid and scotched News Corp's $12 billion attempt to purchase out BSkyB (BSY.L). "I have watched with sorrow from New York as the News of the World story has unfolded," Hinton wrote in a memo to staff after resigning as chief executive of Dow Jones and publisher of The Wall Street Journal. "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," he added.
News Corporation is a diversified global media company. Shares of NWSA traded higher by 1.33% or $0.205/share to $15.64. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $11.91 and as high as $18.35. On average, 23266400 shares of NWSA exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 76300824.
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