News Corp’s Path Forward

News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch and his wife, Wendi. Photo from Wiki CommonsForbes’ Nathan Vardi yesterday lined up some facts that may point to a planned self disclosure by News Corp to the DOJ and SEC.

In his article, ‘News Corp. May Be On Its Way To Voluntarily Disclosing Its Worst Secrets To The U.S. Government,’ Vardi said the company has now hired Mark Mendelsohn, former chief of the DOJ’s FCPA unit.

Last week we talked about why a self disclosure is likely.

Journalists at News Corp’s U.K. paper, The News of the World, allegedly bribed London police officials for access to non-public information. News Corp shut down the paper after the scandal broke.

In addition to News Corp’s hiring of Mendelsohn, Vardi said the company’s independent directors have retained former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, and former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, to advise them.

News Corp’s shares trade on Nasdaq under the symbol NWS.

In his story, Vardi cited our earlier post and said about the recent legal hires:

What would that mean? It could mean that Mendelsohn and his army of lawyers at Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison will get to go through whatever evidence they feel like at News Corp. while billing the company and then hand everything over to the feds. Why would News Corp. do that? Because it is listed on NASDAQ and subject to Sarbanes Oxley, which requires internal procedures at publicly traded companies to pump out disclosures of material events—like those that result in your chief executive being grilled before a British parliamentary committee.

Vardi also noted, as we have, that alleged bribes in London of local police officials for access to information don’t appear on their own to be grist for an FCPA investigation. But the DOJ’s hand might be forced by all the hullabaloo on Capitol Hill.

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According to News Corp’s most recent annual report, current directors are:

Rupert Murdoch
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
News Corporation

José María Aznar
President
Foundation for Social Studies and Analysis
Former President of Spain

Natalie Bancroft
Director, News Corporation

Peter L. Barnes
Chairman
Ansell Limited

Chase Carey
Deputy Chairman, President
and Chief Operating Officer
News Corporation

Kenneth E. Cowley
Chairman
R.M. Williams Holdings Pty Limited

David F. DeVoe
Chief Financial Officer, News Corporation

Viet Dinh
Professor of Law
Georgetown University Law Center

Sir Roderick I. Eddington
Non-Executive Chairman
Australia and New Zealand J.P. Morgan

Mark Hurd
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and
President Hewlett-Packard Company

Andrew S.B. Knight
Chairman
J. Rothschild Capital Management Limited

James R. Murdoch
Chairman and Chief Executive
Europe and Asia, News Corporation

Lachlan K. Murdoch
Executive Chairman, Illyria Pty Ltd

Thomas J. Perkins
Partner
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Arthur M. Siskind
Senior Advisor to the Chairman
News Corporation

John L. Thornton
Professor and Director of Global Leadership
Tsinghua University School of Economics
and Management

Stanley S. Shuman (Director Emeritus)
Managing Director
Allen & Company LLC