Rupert Murdoch yesterday acknowledged for the first time that his son James is not the only choice to succeed him as chief executive of News Corporation as the media group posted a "good" quarterly performance.
In the clearest indication yet that the phone hacking scandal enveloping the firm's UK operations has damaged the succession ambitions of James Murdoch, his father endorsed chief operating officer Chase Carey for the job.
"Chase is my partner and if anything happened to me I'm sure he'll get it immediately - if I went under a bus," the elder Murdoch said in response to a question from reporters about succession on the company's quarterly results call.
Although News Corp has often said it has a succession plan in place, it has never explicitly stated who would ascend to the top role should Murdoch snr step down. His son has been under pressure since the hacking affair erupted at News Corp's UK operations, forcing the closure of its News of the World tabloid and the arrest of several former staff. News Corp's UK business ultimately reported to the younger Murdoch.
But James Murdoch hasn't been completely exiled. Murdoch snr, 80, added that he and Carey had "full confidence" in James, leaving the door open for him to become chief executive as some point.
The group's current boss vowed to do "whatever is necessary" to prevent the hacking scandal recurring.
His comments came as US-listed News Corp reported a profit from continuing operations of $982 million (£607m) in the three months to 30 June, up from $902m a year ago. Its net profit fell to $683m from $875m after recording a $254m loss on the sale of its flagging social networking site, Myspace.
The company said it expected its full-year operating profit to increase in the 2012 financial year by "low to mid teens" percentage points. Revenue in the quarter rose 11 per cent to just below $9 billion, helped by advertising sales and fees at Fox TV and its cable networks.
Collins Stewart analyst Thomas Eagan said: "They were pretty good numbers."
Murdoch added: "While it has been a good quarter from a financial point of view, our company has faced challenges in recent weeks relating to our London tabloid, News of the World.
"We are acting decisively in the matter and will do whatever is necessary to prevent something like this from ever occurring again."
