Murdoch’s Humble Day Reaps $5 Billion for His Shareholders

Almost a year after News Corp.’s phone hacking scandal broke, Chairman Rupert Murdoch has bowed to the unthinkable: splitting off his beloved newspapers. Investors couldn’t be happier.

News Corp. shares have gained $5 billion in value since revelations last year that journalists at one of Murdoch’s U.K. newspapers hacked into the voice-mail account of a murdered schoolgirl. The scandal forced the company to abandon its bid for British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc and close News of the World, its troubled tabloid. News Corp. stock initially plummeted 25 percent, and led to what the 81-year-old Murdoch called his “most humble day” testifying before a U.K. parliamentary committee.