News Corp. to repurchase $5 billion in stock

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., under fire over a telephone-hacking scandal in Britain involving the now-shuttered News of the World, announced a $5 billion stock repurchase plan on Tuesday. News Corp. said it planned to acquire $5 billion in Class A common stock and Class B common stock over the next 12 months. It said the repurchase program would begin after August 15. News Corp. shares have lost more than 14 percent on Wall Street over the past week. Following the announcement of a stock repurchase, News Corp. shares gained 5.56 percent to $16.34 in electronic trading ahead of the opening bell in New York. The News of the World scandal has threatened to derail Murdoch's multibillion-dollar bid to win full control of the British satellite broadcaster BSkyB. Rupert Murdoch flew into London on Sunday to take charge of a crisis which sparked the closure of the 168-year-old News of the World tabloid, which had been a major part of News Corp.'s British division News International.