News International CEO Tom Mockridge to Step Down at Year’s End

The head of News Corp.’s News International unit is stepping down at the end of the year, the company said on Sunday. Tom Mockridge, a 22-year company veteran, took over as head of the unit in July 2011, following the resignation of Rebekah Brooks, in the wake of the PhoneGate hacking scandal.

Rupert Murdoch.

News Corp. (which owns this Web site) said Sunday that Mockridge was leaving to pursue “outside interests.”

Mockridge was seen as a candidate for the top spot at News Corp.’s soon-to-be-spun-off publishing arm. However, that job appears headed to Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thomson.