Rebekah Brooks Near Deal for News Corp Job

By Lukas I. Alpert 

Rebekah Brooks, the former News Corp executive who resigned in 2011 amid the phone-hacking scandal at the now-defunct U.K. tabloid the News of the World, is close to finalizing a deal to return to the company, people familiar with the matter said.

The details of her exact role were still being discussed and no contract has been signed, but Ms. Brooks could end up in an executive position overseeing digital initiatives, the people said. The 46-year-old would likely be based in the U.K., where she formerly ran News International, the unit that oversaw the News of the World, one of the people said.

Ms. Brooks's role would include overseeing Storyful, an Ireland-based social news agency News Corp purchased in late 2013 for $25 million, but she would have wider responsibilities, one of the people said. Storyful's current chief executive, Rahul Chopra, would remain in that role, the person said.

In June 2013, News Corp split into two public companies. The company that holds the publishing assets, including the British newspaper group and The Wall Street Journal, took the News Corp name, while 21st Century Fox houses the entertainment assets.

Ms. Brooks resigned during the scandal that prompted the company to shut down the News of the World and resulted in prosecutions and convictions of several journalists in the U.K. News Corp and 21st Century Fox also paid out a combined $551 million in settlements and legal fees through last June.

Ms. Brooks herself was acquitted of phone hacking and other charges last summer. She had been spotted repeatedly in News Corp headquarters in New York in the fall, at which time a company spokesman said she was seeking employment in the U.S., including at News Corp.

Former News of the World Editor Andy Coulson, who was British Prime Minister David Cameron's communications director before the scandal erupted, was convicted last summer of conspiring to intercept voice mails and sentenced to 18 months in prison. He was released after serving five months and faces retrial later this year on charges the jury failed to reach a verdict on in the earlier trial.

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