Newspaper Man Takes Over

Since joining the Murdoch empire in 1991, native New Zealander Tom Mockridge — former economics editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and now Rebekah Brooks’s replacement as CEO at News International and in charge of restoring the reputation of Murdoch’s battered media company — has risen through the ranks of the global corporation to run Sky Italia, a pay-TV business that is almost twice the size of News International’s operations in the UK in terms of staff and profits. “He has a strong journalistic background,” said one insider. “He understands newspapers and the business of newspapers. He is a strong and competent manager. He is not very flappable and is hugely experienced.” Mockridge joined Rupert Murdoch’s business as the righthand man to Ken Cowley, the long-time family associate then running News Limited in Australia. He started his career on the Taranaki Daily News in 1977 before moving to The Sydney Morning Herald. James Murdoch was full of praise for Mockridge when confirming his move to Wapping. “Tom is an outstanding executive with unrivalled experience across our journalism and television businesses,” Murdoch said. “He has proven himself to be a very effective operator in his time at Sky Italia.” Mockridge has been CEO at Sky Italia since launch in 2003. He lives in Italy.