The decision has been made over fears that the 80-year-old tycoon would not be able to ward off attacks over avalanche of revelations about phone hacking within his UK newspaper empire.
According to the Bloomberg business news agency in the US, chief operating officer Chase Carey could take over from Murdoch at the helm of the troubled media giant, leaving Murdoch as just chairman.
Family friends said Murdoch is struggling to cope with the revelations about the phone hacking scandal.
"I just got a call an hour ago and Rupert wanted to tell me personally that he was not okay," said Vicky Ward, a Vanity Fair contributor.
"His voice has been cracking and the people around him are very concerned, his children are very concerned. This is a man, who is more devastated than he has ever been in his entire 80 years."
"Ever since he met with Milly Dowler, the murdered girl's parents, he hasn't felt the same," she added.
News Corp's directors were unhappy about the "quality and quantity" of information they had received about the hacking and bribery scandals that wiped as much as £5 billion from its stock value, according to the Bloomberg.
If true it would be the biggest scalp so far in a crisis that has claimed the jobs of London Metropolitan Police chief Sir Paul Stephenson, UK's counter-terrorism chief John Yates, News International chief Rebekah Brooks and Downing Street aide Andy Coulson.
Reader Comments
to our Newsletter