James Murdoch quits GlaxoSmithKline board

James Murdoch, the News Corporation executive embroiled in the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, is quitting the board of drug-maker GlaxoSmithKline.

By Alistair Osborne 27 January 2012 • 7:05pm

Murdoch quits Glaxo board — James Murdoch is cutting back on his non-executive commitments, in the wake of the phone hacking scandal, to focus on News Corp and chairing BSkyB.

Mr Murdoch, who joined Glaxo in 2009 as a non-executive director and sat on the company's ethics committee, has told the board he has no plans to stand for re-election at May's AGM.

His position has been under increasing scrutiny following high-profile grillings from MPs over his role in the hacking scandal that forced the closure of the Sunday tabloid.

However, a Glaxo spokesman said it was entirely Mr Murdoch's decision to relinquish his £98,000-a-year post and that there had not been "any significant shareholder pressure on this at all".

He said Glaxo's position on the phone-hacking remained unchanged. "We have said several times we think the full facts need to be established and investigations allowed to happen and reach a conclusion," the spokesman said.

Mr Murdoch, who is chairman and chief executive of News Corp's international arm and also chairs BSkyB, admitted to a Select Committee inquiry in December that he had been warned in an email in 2008 that hacking at the newspaper was "as bad as we feared". While he had replied to the email, he said he had not read it closely.

There have also been calls for Mr Murdoch to give up the chair at BSkyB, which is 39pc owned by News Corp – though the majority of shareholders at the satellite broadcaster have remained supportive.

Sir Christopher Gent, Glaxo chairman, said: "James has taken this decision to focus on his current duties as non-executive chairman of BSkyB, and following his decision to relocate to the United States" for News Corp. He thanked him for "the very strong contribution he has made".

News Corp sources said Mr Murdoch's departure was "totally unrelated to the phone-hacking controversy. He has taken the decision because he is moving back to America and to focus on his current duties at News Corp and BSkyB", they said.

Mr Murdoch is leaving as part of a shake-up of Glaxo's non-executives that will see long-standing directors quit at the 2013 AGM. Sir Crispin Davis, Sir Robert Wilson and Larry Culp, who have all been on the board for nine years, are standing down.

Sir Deryck Maughan will succeed Sir Robert as senior independent non-executive.

Glaxo shares fell 20.5p to £14.20.